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■ THE RURAL SCHOOL J^ 
IN THE UNITED STATES 



BY 

JOHN COULTER HOCKENBERRY, Ph.D., 

Professor of Pedagogy and Psychology, 
in the State Normal School, California, Pennsylvania 



PRICE - 75 cents 



Published by the Author, 
California, Pennsylvania' 



Postpaid ^^^^' Sept. 1. 1908. 

State Normal School, 
Westfield, Massachusetts. 



Copyrighted, 1808 
By the Author 



;■ ^ , 'O 






CONTENTS 



Introduction 



Chapter I. Economical and Social Condition of Present- 
Day Rural Communities ... 8 

Chapter II. The Rural School of To-day as Compared 
With That of An Earlier Day . . .21 

Chapter III. Our Rural School as Compared With That 
of Prussia ...... 29 

Chapter IV. The Rural as Compared With the City 
School ... . . . . 41 

Chapter V. The Rural School of To-day : An Inductive 
Study . . . . . .54 

Chapter VI. The Rural School of To-day (Contin'd) 70 

Chapter VII. The Rural School of To-day (Concl'd) 83 

Chapter VIII. The Rural School of the Future . 97 

Chapter IX. The Rural School of the Future (C'l'd) 107 

Reference List . . . . . .118 

General Index ..... 125 




PREFACE. 

NE need not feel called upon to make any apology for 
offering a study on the Rural School in the United 
States, It is felt by those most competent to judge 
that it is one of the most pressing of all our educa- 
tional problems. There has been a birth of interest in 
this important subject within the past dozen years. An increas- 
ing number of educators and public spirited men have devoted 
more or less attention to this subject, and we have several 
recent studies on a rather comprehensive plan. But none of 
them have been taken as a pattern for the present study. It 
follows a plan of its own. Its one object is to show the typical 
rural school in its limitations, its manifest defects ; and then 
to point out what it might be made. It does not belong to 
those studies which find a remedy for an existing evil in some 
pet theory or legislative act. The rural school can be brought 
up to what such an institution ought to be only by a great cam- 
paign of enlightenment and education along broad lines. Public 
opinion must be shaped, and the public will aroused to activity. 
This points to a sphere of influence and activity for educa- 
tional and social leadership in the near future that is unpre- 
cedented in our educational history. Hence, in the recon- 
struction of the rural school there is room for the play of all 
sorts of talent and all kinds of activity along many lines» 
Some of the great needs are more money, better teachers, 
better schools plants and school grounds, a much improved 
and enriched course of study, and a longer school year. But 
of still greater moment is that enlightened public opinion 
which is keenly sensitive to educational needs and values, 
which knows what it wants in the rural school and how to 
get it. Keenly felt wants condition all real social improve- 
ments. So it must be in the improvement of the rural school. 
It is only fair to say that it was this strongly felt need of 
better understanding of the rural school problem that led the 
author to attempt this study ; not any sense of fitness or special 
preparation for the work. If it serves to interest another, or 
others, to make a more thorough study, giving us more care- 
fully and elaborated conclusions, and directions what to do for 
the improvement of the rural school, the writer will feel re- 
warded for his efforts in behalf of what he regards as a great 
cause. 

During the prosecution of the study the author has re- 
ceived help from several men with whom he was in more or 
less intimate touch, and he desires to record his obligation and 
gratitude for the assistance rendered. The suggestion of the 
subject for the study was made by Dr. Theo. B. Noss, Prin- 



cipal of the California (Pa.) State Normal School. He has 
also made valuable suggestions on the method and content of 
the study. To Dr. M. G. Brumbaugh, my esteemed teacher 
in the University of Pennsylvania, and to Drs. H. T. I^ukens, 
Chas. E. Browne and C. ly. Khreneld, stimulating colleagues 
in the Normal School faculty, thanks are due for assistance 
on points that could not now be enumerated. But for the 
statements and conclusions the writer alone is responsible. A 
still greater debt is due, if possible, to the unnamed band — 
state, county, and district superintendents in many parts of 
our country, who so willingly took the time to answer a long 
question aire. These officials have to a large measure supplied 
the data for the inductive part of the study. 

For the comparative and historical parts the author is 
indebted to the Libraries of the University of Michigan, 
Harvard University, the Library of Congress, and that of the 
Bureau of Education in Washington, and hearty recognition 
is here expressed for the courteous aud efficient assistance 
rendered by the authorities of the several Libraries. 

J. C. H. 
Cawfornia, Pennsylvania, April 7, 1908. 



The Rural School In The United States 




INTRODUCTION. 

wo methods are available for the student of any social 
fact, phenomenon, or product. According to the 
first method he will concern himself with the size, 
the amount, the numerical proportions of the thing 
in hand. Observation is superficial, confining itself to 
traits that are patent even to the casual observer. The other de- 
mands a consideration of traits and distinctions of a more 
hidden, more subtle, more intricate, more recondite nature. 
Progress is more painstaking, more doubtful, less rapid. In 
the former method, distinctions of quantity are of piimary 
importance, while in the latter those of quality are of chief 
concern. Finely drawn distinctions are not necessary in this 
place, but it might be pointed out that the one is the method 
of the sense, the other the method of reason ; the one is the 
method of the letter, the form, while the other is the method 
of the spirit. The ultimate value of everything is expressible 
only in terms of the spirit. If the further progress of civili- 
zation and of democracy is not to be impeded all thinking men 
and women must assume toward every social fact and problem 
an attitude that will take cognizance of distinctions and marks 
of quality rather than those of quantity and number. For the 
sake of convenience and brevity in this study, the terms 
quantitative and qualitative are adopted to characterize these 
two attitudes and methods respectively, in spite of the techni- 
cal significance of the terms in chemistry and other sciences. 

(130). 

In America our educational progress has been made along 
lines that are chiefly quantitative. Of course, there can be 
no qualitative consideration of education until its quantitative 
development has received a certain amount of emphasis. The 
qualitative investigation of any set of facts would seem to 
come later, too, because the qualitative is a later type of re- 
flection. (130) So far, largely absorbed in the accumulation 
of a vast material basis for a great civilization, we could 
scarcely be expected to have done very much in the domain of 
qualitative reflection. 

It must be conceded that in our estimate of people, 
the quantitative standards appear with entirely too much 
prominence. Clergymen are often classified according to 
salary, and other professions are not more exempt from such 
standards. Even our great poets and prose writers have been 
enumerated in classes according to the amount received in 
ro5^alties, and the number of editions and copies of their 



4 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

master-pieces. What were Socrates' tuition fees as teacher ? 
What was the royalty on Plato's Dialogues or on Aristotle's 
Treatises? What were the material rewards of Aeschylus, 
Euripides, and Sophocles as play writes ? are questions which 
it would surprise us greatly to find asked anywhere in the 
writings of antiquity. 

But nowhere, perhaps, are these standards quite so ap- 
parent as in our American educational system in schools of all 
grades. All are ambitious for large numbers, for million dol- 
lar endowments, for magnificent school architecture planned 
on a scale of huge proportions, for libraries which shall number 
their volumes in the hundreds of thousands, for landscape 
architecture devised on a scale of imposing dimensions. This 
quantitative march of events has invaded the inner life of the 
school from Kindergarten to university, and is very conspicuous 
in our courses of study and in our daily programs of lectures and 
recitations. In our Kindergarten it would seem to be the aim 
to display how many exercises, games, songs, stories and plays 
can be crowded into every day's work. In the elementary 
school it IS the aim to include in the curriculum every phase of 
our increasingly complex civilization, while our high schools 
have outstripped all lower schools in quantitative enrichment. 
If the high school has to a certain extent invaded the sacred 
domain of the old-time college, the latter has wreaked a double 
vengeance: it has fixed its entrance requirements so high as 
sometimes to tax the capacity of the high school, and it has 
pushed its work up into the sphere of the university. The 
university, to meet the varying needs of its thousands of un- 
dergraduate students (most of whom are just out of the high 
or preparatory school, ) is compelled to plan and offer a vast 
number of courses, so that many students are seriously em- 
barrassed to know what courses to choose. 

Nor are these the only cases illustrating the over-em- 
phasis that we have been placing upon the quantitative side of 
our educational development, for the normal school in many 
states offers a still more glaring example of this phenomenon, 
which one might almost call a law. Its curriculum is generally 
burdened with a lot of material that legitimately belongs to 
the high school or even the elementary school. It often hap- 
pens that the normal school graduate goes out wondering 
what " all that stuff " called psychology, history of education, 
principles of theory and practice, was taught for. It is a case 
of mental conflict between the academic and the pedagogical 
aspect of the different subjects of study, and the academic 
system of ideas has practically displaced the pedagogical. 

Quantitative standards are further shown in our tests for 
promotion, for admission to college or university, for entrance 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 5 

Upon the pursuit of the various professional or technical 
careers. Until quite recently, and even now to an extent 
which would surprise most of us if we reflected upon its mean- 
ing, these various requirements have been set forth as such 
and such books, such and such chapters of specified books. 
Even to-day our colleges know no better standard of require- 
ment in modern languages than that which is suggested by 
the phases ' ' so many pages of modern prose and so many 
pages of classic poetry. " To a less extent this is still the stand- 
ard also in Greek and Latin. There is an interesting attempt 
to substitute qualitative for quantitative standards in language 
work, to be seen in the announcement of certain college cata- 
logues, to the effect that one oration committed to memory 
shall be counted equal to three as ordinarily studied, (i) 

Another illustration of our uniform quantitative attitude 
is to be found in the development of our common school course 
of study from the three R's. That it has been a case of quan- 
titative rather than qualitative enrichment goes without say- 
ing. This line of enrichment has run through the interest- 
ing' fields of history, geography, algebra, physiology with all 
of its hygiene and temperance addenda, drawing, object lessons, 
vocal music, nature study, literature, language work and ele- 
mentary science. Now the loudest cry is rising from every 
educational assembly for deliverance from the tyranny of this 
whole quantitative procedure. We have not abandoned our 
ideal of enrichment, but we can procure real enrichment only 
through the elimination of all that is unnecessary or antiquated 
in our present course of study. 

Most of our texts in the several subjects have been 
written altogether from the quantitative standpoint. The 
subject must be treated in a scientific, that is, in a full man- 
ner. There has been no time to waste in considering the 
child's nature or real needs in life. The question of the time- 
allotment of the different subjects was not even thought of 
until recently. Hence, our texts have generally been mere 
compendiums of the several subjects of the curriculum, and 
woe to the child whose memory failed to record every fact or 
whose will rebelled at the outset of the stultifying procedure ! 
He was unhesitatingly branded a blockhead, without any 
thought of a coming irony of fate, when history should dis- 
credit the pedagogue's judgment ! These facts are set forth 
not as denunciatory of educational theory and practice m 
America, but simply to establish the point that we have really 
done little towards a serious study of our educational output 
on its qualitative side ; or at least, we have not gone into the 
schools to find out just what are the causes of given character- 
istics in our educational output. But there are many signs 



6 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

that we are now entering upon that phase of reflection upon 
our theory and work. The modern movement of child study 
may be cited in proof of a change of front in the whole educa- 
tional world. This new discipline has amply proved its right 
to exist, if in nothing else, at least in this, that it has led to 
more serious study and reflection than teachers have ever 
made hitherto. Perhaps the most pregnant question of mo- 
dern educational thought is this : ' * Whai is the nature of the 
creature we are to educate?^'' And with this interrogation in 
mind, the modern teacher approaches his educational work. 
Child study is giving us a new attitude in all our educational 
work, and teaching us that the child is something more than 
a tabula rasa upon which we can re-image the world in what- 
ever fashion or garb may suit our desire or convenience ; it is 
a self-active being well on its way to self-mastery and world- 
mastery before it ever comes under the influence of the school 
as such. With him there is assimilation of new things to 
previous experience and life or else no real growth results from 
his contact with the teacher as teacher. This process of 
growth by assimilation and reaction to environment goes on, 
too, quite independently of teacher and parent, although it is 
either facilitated or retarded and perverted by those persons. 
With the majority of teachers the chief trait of pedagogical 
practice for upwards of a thousand years has been the mem- 
oriter appropriation of preceptive declaration or the imitative 
execution of command, all originality and reflection being 
wholly unwelcome, and from the child study movement comes 
the only ra> of hope that we shall ever be delivered from our 
thraldom to this memory fetich in elementary education. 

In the next place we have begun to reflect upon our 
course of study and every separate part thereof. We have 
learned much from the creeds of our masters in education. 
We have called in question the older statements of the aim of 
education and even that of life itself, and, not being wholly 
satisfied with our findings, mark them tentative. We will 
listen attentively and respectfully to anyone who seems to 
have anything to say on education. 

We have collected vast quantities of facts on the nature 
of the child, and all sorts of educational problems, and have 
endeavored to draw some conclusions therefrom, and we got 
little further than tentative. And this is the only way to ad- 
vance to a higher standard of doctrine and practice in educa- 
tion. Other sciences and disciplines have gone through stages 
that were similar. In fact, all the sciences of recognized stand- 
ing have proceeded by steps as uncertain and wavering as we 
are now making, but some of them have walked out into the 
day-light of accuracy and maintain the truths of their several 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 7 

domains by a comparatively universal validity of principle and 
law. (2) 

There can be little doubt that we are rapidly approaching 
a re-adjustment of our whole public or common school educa- 
tional system. There is no room for the play of pessimism as 
to the final outcome or the character of this adjustment. We 
shall not lack our educational prophets and lawgivers in the 
future as we have not lacked them in the past. The whole 
mass of material which has been collected and is now being 
rapidly increased by newly discovered facts in every field of 
study which centres in the child or man, unpromising as it may 
appear, is shot through and through with the golden threads 
of truth and potent suggestion. Some day he will come, who 
can disentangle every thread of gold from the encumbering 
mass and fit it into the tapestry. In the meantime, all ought 
to be grateful that the mass is accumulating, that educational 
problems are increasing in number and complexity, and that 
we may hope for the advent of the master weaver ! 



8 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 
CHAPTER I. 

Economic and Social Conditions of Prksent-day 
Rural Communities 

The first thing that the student of the rural school of to- 
day will notice is the changed economic and social conditions 
of rural communities. With respect to these conditions, 
rural communities in most parts of our country have under- 
gone more change within a half century than rural communi- 
ties ever did before. The evidences are more striking in some 
parts than in others, but everywhere the changes have been 
silently taking place. Referring to the accumulation of wealth 
and the promotion of human welfare, Charles Francis Adams 
says that the change witnessed the past century was greater 
than that of all previous centuries. (3) But the real condition 
of the rural inhabitant depends upon many things besides the 
accumulation of material wealth. Along with the satisfaction 
of basal material wants has come a number of new wants, and 
their satisfaction or the lack thereof. That wants have an 
important function in the production of wealth is quite as 
true as the statement that the possession of material wealth 
enables us to satisfy many of our wants. Therefore wants 
are as much to be reckoned with in social studies as surplus of 
production. 

It will be in order to name and discuss briefly some of the 
agencies and means by which the farmer's economic and social 
condition has been changed within the last few decades. 

I . The general extensio7i of railroads and trolley's. The 
advent of a railroad transforms any community through which 
it passes, and especially any in which it has a station. The 
railroad is a means of connection between the rural community 
and the rest of the world, with its highways of trade and its 
news centers. It is really the railroad that first brings to clear 
consciousness in the rural mind the fact that there is a great 
busy, throbbing, real world far away from the confines of the 
little farm. With what wonder and awe, and deep emotions 
that are nameless, an isolated farmer saw the first train come 
flying towards and past his little estate ! That first train in 
the '40's, '50's, '6o's, and the '70's, what a magician it was ! 
What changes its "chain of linked uproar long drawn out " 
has wrought all over our land ! It has gone linking thousands 
of rural neighborhoods with the great world of commerce, of 
manufactures, of literature, of art, of every known industry. 
Now for the first time come to the rural store the unknown 
fruit and the nameless article. But soon the names, tastes, 
sounds, qualities and virtues of these commodities are as well 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 9 

known in the rural village as they were in the marble palaces 
on the great avenues. Sensation, perception, and appercep- 
tion have been doing their work in a world all but unknown. 
The people are being educated by the unfailing accompani- 
ments of the railroad. 

The first car-ride of an isolated farmer and his family 
stands out in memory with clearness and lively interest. At 
first being only excursions to county fairs or campmeetings, 
these trips lengthen out to some trading emporium, state or 
national capital, to some sea-side or mountain resort. 

The trolley has extended the work already begun 
by the railroad. It has rendered frequent access to neighbor- 
ing cities and towns an inexpensive affair. It has suburban- 
ized vast stretches of rural country lying in the environs of 
all our large cities. It has not displaced the railroad, but it 
has met a need not adequately provided for by it. The value of 
the trolley car in marketing certain kinds of rural produce has 
been noticed by every observant traveller. The trolley rail- 
way has changed the economic and social condition of the 
farmer wherever it has gone, and its rapid extension to ail 
parts of the country is one of the marked features of our age. 

Thus further educational processes are at work in the life 
of the farmer and his family. He will interpret most that he 
sees from the standpoint of utility on the farm, and he learns 
much that will have this utilitarian value. Thus the railroad 
and the trolley are directly and indirectly a means of distribu- 
tion for new ideas of life, labor, and economic efficiency. 
With the extension of the railway has come, 

2. The general introductio7i of labor-saving agricultural 
iviplements . By means of such, implements one man can now 
do the work which it formerly required many to do. Thus 
multiplied efficiency of labor through labor-saving devices is 
found in agriculture as well as in modern manufacture. In 
this place may be named the sulky-plow, harrow, cultivator, 
and liner ; the mower, harvester, header, and thrasher ; hay- 
loaders and rickers, corn- huskers, to say nothing of imple- 
ments employed on the great farms of the West, such as the 
steam-plow and large harvesters which head, thresh, clean, 
measure, bag the wheat, and pile these bags in equal heaps by 
the side of the moving machine. As early as October 1859, 
the scientific magazines and agricultural papers had much to 
say about the celebrated " Fawks" Steam Plow," by which 
the cost of breaking up an acre of prairie was reduced from 
$2.50 to 64>^ cents. There were eight plows abreast, and the 
traction engine was of thirty horse power. Three men could 
plow with it twenty-five acres in a day. This invention was 
rewarded, and further inventions encouraged, by a $30,000 



10 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

prize given by an Illinois Society. The plow sold for $4,000. (4) 

These labor-savers affected more than the economic condi- 
tion of the farmer. With their introduction came more time 
for reflection and the substitution of brain-work for bra<vn- 
work. The increase of the leisure of a community is a factor 
which must be reckoned with in social science and all kindred 
subjects. So far as labor is concerned the effect of the intro- 
duction of such implements is two fold ; viz ; ( i ) to lessen the 
asperities of agricultural toil, and (2) to shorten the hours re- 
quired to take care of a given number of acres. The effect of 
increasing a community 's leisure hours is a raising of the 
" standard of life. " (5) 

In the Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Labor 
Statistics we read that the effect of the ten-hour law in Eng- 
land was to raise the educational condition of the laborers, as 
shown in their increased attendance at church, public l.ectures, 
mechanics' institutes ; raising horticultural and agricultural 
products for exhibits in the time thus saved ; in attendance at 
singing schools and societies, and in increased attiendance at 
night schools. (5) The raised standard of 1 ife signfies an in- 
crease in the number of one's wants, but not necessarily in 
the number whose satisfaction requires material things. 
There are economies of a higher order than those that have to 
do with material, basal wants. Professor Alfred Marshall says 
on this point : ' ' Let us take the term Standard of Life to 
mean the standard of Activities and Wants. Thus an increase 
in the Standard -of Life implies an increase of intelligence and 
energy and self-respect ; leading to more care and judgment 
in expenditure, and an avoidance of food and drink that gratify 
the appetites but afford no strength, and of ways of living that 
are unwholesome physically and morally." (6) 

3. The weekly^ or the daily newspaper and more frequent 
mails ; and free rural mail delivery. We are all imitators to a 
greater or less extent because our minds are all receptive to 
what may be called suggestion. " Our whole mental life is a 
progressive series of suggestions, or of integration of ideas. " (7) 
Both the railroad and the newspaper do much through the 
mere power of indirect suggestion, but they do more than sug- 
gest : they instruct, inform, and educate. The educative 
material of the railroad and the newspaper may differ widely 
from that set forth in Fox's Book of Martyrs, but it touches 
the life of the rural inhabitant at every point and changes 
him. 

The newspaper keeps him informed on the great move- 
ments of the day, acquaints him with the literary and artistic 
characters of his own and other countries, gives him many 
biographies and historic facts of value. It instructs him in 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 11 

the movement of prices for the commodities which he may 
have to sell, or which he may desire to purchase. He is often 
influenced in his business transactions by the information thus 
obtained. He is no longer subject to the deceptions of over- 
reaching cattle dealers, fruit dealers, or purchasers of grain. 
The farmers' paper and magazine, too, have made progress 
with the railroad and the general newspaper, and have gone 
beyond those limits, for there are few agricultural communities 
in which no agricultural literature is received. 

Free rural mail delivery is an element alike in the econ- 
omy of time and energy, and in the education of the farmer. 
It is a new and educative experience in the life of any of us 
(whether it be in the lane of a country home or in the marble 
alcoves of the I^ibrary of Congress) when we are first conscious 
that an . employe of Uncle Sam comes to learn and do 
our bidding ^ It raises us a little in our own estimation, and 
if the elevation is not too great, the experience can do us only 
good. It makes us a conscious "part of all that is," and im- 
presses upon our mind the solemn lessons of mutual depend- 
ence and of promptness, helpfulness, and gratitude, — of social 
solidarity, in a word. 

It was a happy co-incident that thus the improvement and 
multiplication of labor-saving implements and more frequent 
mails brought the farmer greater leisure and at the same time 
a tempting menu of fresh rending matter. 

4. The Patrons of Husbandry, or Grange. This national 
agrarian organization was instituted in Washington, D. C, 
Dec. 4. 1867, by Mr. O. H. Kelley, himself a farmer. Just 
previous to the institution of the grange, Mr. Kelley, then a 
clerk in the department of Agriculture, was appointed by 
President Johnson to look into the condition of the Southern 
farmer. The result of Mr. Kelley's investigation was to con- 
vince him that the thing most needed was organization — 
organization for protection, for educational and social improve- 
ment. It grew rapidly in the '70's, 13,000 subordinate 
granges being organized in 1873 alone,— an abnormal develop- 
ment probably stimulated by the condition which brought on 
the financial panic of that year. In 1875 there were 1,500,000 
members. This was an abnormal condition, and many whose 
ends were unworthy and whose hopes were doomed to dis- 
appointment, dropped out of the order, allowing the member- 
ship to fall to a normal level. 

The educational and social features are much emphasized 
by all the prominent grange lecturers and writers. There is 
a saving in the price of many agricultural necessities, but this 
part " pales into insignificance in comparison with the educa- 
tional benefits of the order. ' ' (8) The benefits and gains to the 



12 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

farmer have been, according to the proclamation of the nation- 
al grange (1891) as follows : 

(1) Organization promoted among farmers ; 

(2) Sphere of women has been broadened ; 

(3) Condition of the home improved ; 

(4) Renewal of patents on sewing machines prevented, saving to 

the farmer 50 per cent, of their cost; 

(5) Important contests with railroads gained ; 

(6) Oleomargarine law passed and enforced ; 

(7) Interstate Commerce law passed ; 

(8) Agricultural representation in the President's Cabinet secured; 

(9) Establishment of Agricultural colleges and experiment 

stations in many states ; 

(10) State support and encouragement of farmer's institutes in 

several states ; 

(11) State appropriation for public schools increased in a number 

of states ; 
(13) Encouragement of many local improvements, such as roads, 
bridges, halls, libraries, fire insurance, etc. (8) 

The isolated farmer is at the mercy of the rural store- 
keeper in the matter of the prices he must pay for certain 
necessities ; and the prices of these are often fixed far more 
by custom than by cost. He can do much to protect himself 
in selling his produce, thanks to the daily and weekly news- 
paper, — but not so in his petty purchases. The co-operative 
buying of the grange order is often his only salvation from 
higher prices than those paid in city stores. One Massachu- 
setts grange, having 102 members, purchased in 1891, $3,000 
worth of goods for its members. (9) 

But the grange organization is but one feature of a great 
Farmers' movement which, as Walker says, has taken differ- 
ent directions and affected different phases of the farmer's life. 
These may be classified into : ( i ) The movement for organi- 
zation, showing itself in the Farmers' alliance, Grange, 
National Farmers' Congress, etc. (2) The movement for 
education especially in the fields of scientific agriculture, eco- 
nomics, and politics. A National Reform Press has been or- 
ganized with about one thousand newspapers pledged to sup- 
port the interests represented in the Farmers' Movement. 
(3) Co-operation, a secondary feature of organization. This 
principle has been employed with mutual advantage in the 
marketing of grain, cattle, etc.; in the purchase of many 
things needed on the farm ; and in fire insurance on crops and 
buildings. (4) Political action, through agitation, education, 
and the ballot, looking to the improvement of the agricultural 
classes, (10) 

5, The agricultural colleges, the experiment station, and 
the farmers^ institutes. These agencies have as their mission 
the education of the American farmer in the scientific princi- 
ples of agriculture in all of its departmental divisions. The 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 13 

channels of transmission for this scientific knowledge are the 
college classroom, reports on research problems and all kinds 
of experimentation, more popular reports and the instruction 
of the farmers in the institutes, and the official reports of these 
institutions. In many of the states the agricultural colleges 
rank among the first institutions in the character of their 
faculties, equipment, libraries, output in graduates, and scien- 
tific achievement. They put every farmer of their respective 
state into potential relation with the latest and best ideas in 
the various departments of agriculture. 

These' agencies have greatly affected the economic results 
of farming as may be shown by a few illustrations. The ex- 
periment stations have studied the nutritive value of different 
foods for live stock, and have shown the high value of corn 
stover. This is valued at $100,000,000 a year now in our 
country. And by the same means it has been shown that 
cotton-seed is of great value. The combined feeding and fer- 
tilizing value of cotton-seed in the United States is now esti- 
mated at $150,000,000 a year. The results of its investiga- 
tion along the lines of cold storage for cheese and fruits, vege- 
table and flower culture under glass, in breeding and selection 
for the purpose of improving the crops, the introduction of 
new crops, values of fertilizers, the values of insecticides, and 
and fungicides have been as great as those to which figure 
values have been assigned. (11) The same authority points out 
that other results, though less palpable, perhaps, must be 
considered in connection with the work of these institutions. 
He claims that the educational influence of these institutions 
is greater than the direct economic results. They have tried 
to counteract the prejudice against the agricultural college. 
They have also furnished the material for the formulation of 
a science of agriculture, and point out the way to research 
problems and courses which are of as high academic value as 
research courses in any university. (11) 

! Since Oct. 18, 1887, the Association of American Agri- 
cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations has been very active 
and efficient in its efforts to promote agricultural education in 
our country. ( 1 2 )There are some sixty agricultural colleges and 
schools that receive funds from the national government. 
Many of these are offering now special short courses to extend 
their helpfulness to a class of young people who will thus be 
greatly benefited, but who could not take the full four years' 
course required for graduation with a degree. (13) 

Besides the work of these institutions, should be mention- 
ed the great work that is being done in the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture itself. It has become a sort of graduate school 
in agriculture. Since 1897, 496 students of graduate rank 



14 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

have been admitted to special research work under the scien- 
tific experts of the department. ( i4)The total number of publica- 
tions issued by the Department of Agriculture in 1903 was 
938 ; and the total number of copies of all publications issued; 
in the same year was little short of 12,000,000. Of these 
7,000,000 were farmers' bulletins. The educational influence 
of this vast body of literature on the agricultural population 
must be great. One noteworthy fact is that urban people are 
becoming more interested in agricultural problems. (15) 

The Farmers' Institute does for the farming class what 
university extension lectures do for urban and town popula- 
tions, and is thought to be an outgrowth of that movement. 
On the other hand, it is an extension of the work of the Agri- 
cultural College and experiment station. It is strong through- 
out the United States and British North America. In 1902- 
'03 forty-five states and territories of our country supported 
these institutes in part by appropriations varying in amount 
from $20,000 in New York to $35 in Hawaii. For this pur- 
pose Illinois set aside $18,500; Ohio $16,981; Minnesota 
$16,500 ; Pennsylvania $15,000 ; Wisconsin $12,000 ; and 
Indiana $10,000. The total amount thus appropriated that 
year was $187,226. There were 904,654 persons in attend- 
ance upon the sessions of these institutes, and a total of 353, 
700 reports of such meetings were printed and distributed. 
More than one-third of the lectures were given by the mem- 
bers of the staffs of agricultural colleges and experiment 
stations, thus securing to the farmers a class of instruction of 
the highest value, because given by experts and authorities 
in their several lines. (16) 

A sample program of one of these meetings is given that 
any reader who may be unfamiliar with the character of these 
meetings may see just what is done. It is that of a farmers' 
institute held in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at 
Brownsville, Pa. , Saturday morning, afternoon and evening, 
February 25, 1905. 

Practical roadmaking, Mr. Foight. 

Farmers of to-day, Mr. Joel A. Herr. 

Maintenance of soil moisture, Prof. Franklin Menges. 

Growing of crimson clover, Hon. F. R. Schwartz. 

Improvement of corn, Prof. Menges. 

Centralization of schools, T. A. Jeffries, Esq. 

Large fruit growing, Mr. Herr. 

Market gardening, Hon. Mr. Schwartz. 

Hay and leguminous crops, Professor Menges. 

Poultry, Hon. Mr. Schwartz. 

A question box was conducted at the afternoon and even- 
ing sessions, and local talent was drawn upon for the usual 
opening formalities, music, and a short paper or two. Professor 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 15 

Menges is a member of the Pennsylvania Agricultural College 
staff, and lectures as an expert ; all the addresses seem to have 
been of a high order, (17) 

6. The tendency to specialization in agriculture and in- 
tensive farming. There is a tendency which is at work in our 
country to-day, and it must be studied by those who would 
know what problems confront the farmer. This tendency 
was long ago noted and commended by John Stuart Mill, (18) 
We are indebted to Mill for his clear presentation of the econ- 
omic and social implication of this tendency. It is in fact 
both cause and result of greater mental efficiency. This re- 
minds one of Emerson's conception that " with God every end 
is a new means, ' ' 

In this type of agriculture more and more depends upon 
mental efficiency, and less and less upon chance ; brain-labor 
again takes the place of brawn-labor. But aside from an)'- 
consideration of mental efficiency, it may be safely stated that 
the cultural effects of the two types of agriculture, the exten- 
sive and the intensive, differ greatly ; for the more intimate 
knowledge of plant anatomy and physiology, and of the life- 
history and growth of plants, which is obtained and necessary 
under a system of intensive agriculture, is a kind of knowledge 
bringing one into vital contact with nature's most interesting 
and significant laws and processes, and giving its possessor a 
reverence for all law, and a consequent disposition to seek it 
where it is not at first apparent. If this line of argument is 
consonant with the facts, it follows that intensive agriculture 
has introduced new and positive elements of culture and en- 
lightenment into an occupation which is not generally held to 
be conducive to those high attainments. This departure in 
agriculture may be studied in all of its economic and social 
bearings in the several departments of truck farming, fruit 
raising, berry farming, dairying, stock raising, floriculture, 
bee culture, poultry culture, and the culture of flowers and 
vegetables in greenhouses. The intellectual demands of such 
industries upon one who is to succeed therein are: (i) a 
knowledge of the soil ; (2) a knowlege of the plant or crea- 
ture to be cultivated ; (3) a knowledge of the market ; (4) 
promptness in reaching it ; (5) command of the requisite labor 
in due quantity and quality. General intelligence is the 
necessary background for the proper display of the specialized 
knowledge. To this group of intellectual prerequisities, 
there must be one added which is mainly moral, viz., pains- 
taking care. Co-operation may not be increased by the intro- 
duction of specialization in soil or animal culture, but the 
farmer of this type is in closer touch with the great market 
centers and news centers. The socializing and educative 



16 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

effects of this contact probably balance the loss of those bene- 
ficial results which always flow from co-operation, whose 
socializing value is very great. 

7, Improved rural architecture is one of the differences 
which separate us more or less sharply from the earlier de- 
cades of our national history. There are no doubt many 
districts in our country, where retarded development is the rule, 
but these are more or less narrowly circumscribed, and merely 
serve as real or apparent exceptions to the law. As early as 
the '6o's, and doubtless earlier, much was written and said 
about the improvement of farmers' homes. Much of this 
was hortatory, but in many of the farmers' magazines and 
newspapers of those days cuts were given to exhibit the best 
ideals in practical rural architecture. 

Now it is the condition of the farmers' home and the 
activities centering around it that must serve as the point of 
departure for any thoroughgoing study of rural social condi- 
tions. There can be no doubt that the comforts of the farmer 
have been greatly increased in all the more progressive parts 
of the country within from three to five decades. He enjoys 
comforts that the wealthiest could not command in colonial 
days. The feudal lord may have had greater power and 
wealth, and he may have led an army, but he could not boast 
the comforts of a typical American farmer of to-day. 

In the nature of the case, it will be impossible for us in 
our study to determine precisely just what a typical farmer is 
or what the precise character is of his home. But a knowledge 
of certain tendencies and changes already wrought out by and 
for the American farmer is necessary if one hopes to under- 
stand present rural educational conditions and point out what 
changes ought to be made in that system of education. 

8, The Telephone. The introduction of the telephone 
into the neighborhood and home of our American farmers has 
facilitated the transaction of agricultural affairs, proven a 
saver of time and energy and money, and thus already has 
become an important item in agricultural economy. But this 
is to follow the introduction of this instrument of civilization 
to only half of its results ; for the farmer's sense of oneness of 
life and interest, of solidarity, has been thereby intensified. 
He may communicate with any one of his neighbors at any 
moment. It conduces to a better knowledge of one another's 
movements, feelings, plans, and state of health. The health 
and welfare of the neighbor's family may be minutely inquired 
after, and thus the community be built up from day to day 
into stronger bonds of sympathy and goodwill. 

Committees of the grange, the church, the Sunday School, 
the farmer's institute, school boards, rural teachers' associations 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 17 

may now transact much of their business without traveling 
farther than to the telephone instrument. The ring of this 
instrument is a familiar sound in an ever increasing number 
of rural homes. It is to be reckoned as another of civiliza- 
tion's own instruments for the attainment of another of its ben- 
eficient designs. According to the United States Census 
returns for 1902 there were over 2,315,297 instruments in use, 
transmitting over 5,000,000,000 messages that year. This 
is an average of one instrument to every thirty-four inhabi- 
tants. The number in rural communities is increasing very 

rapidly. (19-) 

9. The great mail order store has done its moiety to 
change the economic and educational condition of the farmer. 
It must therefore be reckoned among such agencies. The 
claim of this store is that it dispenses with the services of the 
middle man, and saves that cost to the purchaser. It has 
built up a large and increasing confidence in its policy, and in 
its ability and willingness to redeem its promises, so that 
among farmers and mechanics on every hand one can find the 
voluminous catalogues of these stores. These are profusely 
illustrated, giving explicit instructions in the method of select- 
ing and ordering the staple desired. They are often patterns 
of directness and simplicity. These catalogues are devoted to 
business, and contain no striking advertisements. Often a 
nominal sum is-charged for them. The profuse illustrations 
reduce to a minimum the difficulty of selecting goods without 
seeing them. In the judgment of the farmer the goods stand 
the test, and thousands of the farmers are classed among its 
patrons. The educative effect of this mode of purchasing, the 
real character of the goods thus sold, the effect upon the 
farmer's sum of expenses for annual purchases, ought to be 
studied more carefully and analyzed much»more in detail than 
the limits of this chapter will allow. 

And yet in spite of all these agrocentric influences and 
forces which would seem to be strong enough to hold the 
farmer to his rural demesne until his dying day, we hear wide- 
spread murmurings of 

A Rural Exodus. This is not to be classed as one of the 
agencies which have silently changed the farmers' economic 
and social conditions ; it is rather a result of those conditions 
than a cause. It is really to be taken as the farmer's criticism 
of his own condition in the country as contrasted with that of 
his fellows in cities and towns. It is a movement, an attitude, 
a criticism, and the causes that have produced it must be 
sought by the same analytic method by which we have en- 
deavored to trace the causes of certain changes in the economic, 
social, and educational conditions of the farmer. 



18 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

What is the rural exodus, then ? We hear on all sides com- 
plaints of the depopulation of certain rural areas of our country. 
Farms are lapsing into wilderness and barrens. This lamenta- 
tion strikes us all the more profoundly, because it comes 
mainly from New England where the country homes have 
sent up to the colleges, and thence out into the world to bless 
it, so many men of knowledge, skilled in the technique and 
high art of leadership. In the early days of New England, 
brain-culture went hand-in-hand with field-culture. No 
sooner had an early New England er gotten possession of a 
homestead, than his attention went out actively toward the 
school, the academy, the college, that his boy might obtain an 
education. Education has never been regarded as a luxury 
in New England, but has ever been held as a necessity. 
The motives may have changed or not changed, but they have 
existed, and they have been strong enough to be effective in 
the production of a distinctive type of character — the better 
type of New England character as we know it to-day, and as 
we can study it from generation to generation in the develop- 
ment of our country. Shall these dear old homesteads, 
therefore, which for several centuries have been the recruiting 
stations for the colleges and professions be abandoned to the 
wilderness and the hardy and adhesive foreigner? " If so," 
ask our lamenting seers, ' ' what shall become of New England 
hegemony in the learned professions, and in the noiseless but 
mighty domains of poetry and the philosophy of life ? ' ' 

There is another class of observers who take the matter 
far less seriously. "It," say they, "is a corollary of the great 
economic 'law of diminishing returns.' There is a point in 
the scale of diminishing returns beyond which it simply 
does not pay to farm land, or work mines, or cut timber, or 
dig oil wells. " (20) If this theory of the situation is correct, 
the rural exodus is an indication of rising intelligence, of a 
better understanding of economic principles as applied to 
agriculture. It shows a commendable determination not to be 
satisfied with the old ways, simply because they are old. 

In action the rural exodus takes one of two forms: (i) 
from one agricultural area to another ; (2) from the country 
to the town. We have, therefore, now to ask: What have 
been the chief causes of the rural exodus ? We may answer: — 

I. Disquieting reports of the vast returns from "bo- 
nanza " farming in the great West. Thus influenced many a 
superior eastern farmer broke every tie that bound him to the 
old homestead, and moved out West to seeJc his El Dorado in 
the wheat and corn fields of the virgin prairies, I^etters from 
the immigrant and his family kept up a continual ferment in 
the old neighborhood. Others followed him, and so on. 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 19 

2. The same sort of reports of more rapid advancement 
in material possession, made and to be made, in commercial 
and manufacturing enterprises. Here is one of the initial 
links in that chain of events which culminated in all the con- 
ditions and problems of a rapidly increasing urban population. 
These reports are a yeast of disquietude in almost every rural 
community in the older parts of our country, and the yeast, as 
lago says, "is working." 

3. The desire of ambitious country parents for better 
educational and cultural opportunities for their children than 
the country afforded. This is an important factor in the rural 
exodus. Here we have those familiar psychical phenomena 
of report, suggestion, modification of apperceptive systems, 
and imitation. This is one ot the most helpful and suggestive 
fields in all the range of social investigation, and some one 
would do well to work out these phenomena as they are man- 
ifested in changing rural communities. 

4. The desire for more leisure hours for study, reading, 
etc. , is one of the agencies, and has its influence. 

5. The growing sense of isolation and the grinding mon- 
otony of the agricultural life has also been a potent factor in 
producing the rural exodus. The social instinct is one of the 
strongest of our human nature. (21) 

One hears less about an instinct for change, for diversion, 
for variety, for the novel ; but it is really a question whether 
it is not an instinct, and a very important one. And it is so 
general a characteristic among most civilized peoples as to lay 
serious claim to being a national, if not a racial trait. James 
gives us some grounds for such a claim in his discussion of 
Curiosity. (22) And so Tennyson is true not only to the 
poetic art but to the psychology of the human heart, when he 
sings in Ulysses : 

' ' I cannot rest from travel ; I will drink Life to the lees . . . 
I am part of all that I have met ; 
Yet all experience is an arch where thro' 
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades 
Forever and forever when I move. 
How dull it is to pause, to make an end, 
To rest unburnish'd, not to shine in use ! 
As tho' to breathe were life." 

6. The narrow and restrictive measures pursued by 
many fathers with their sons are responsible for many a 
youth's anabsis to the city and freedom, where he may have 
opportunity and some time for the play and expansion 
of individuality. More time for, and wise direction in, read- 
ing, active interest in the son's development into full and 
conscious possession of himself and all his powers, into sym- 



20 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

pathetic appreciation of nature and her laws, into conscious 
and joyous participation with society in all her activities and 
plans, — all these would have saved to the rural community 
and home many a promising youth ; and they would have 
made the country a more potent factor in the intellectual, 
civil, political, moral, and religious evolution of our national 
life. But this statement is virtually a begging of the ques- 
tion, — is too anticipatory of the conclusion to which our whole 
study is destined to lead" us. 

7. The instinct of activity, of constructiveness, of prog- 
ress, of widening one's influence, of "social control " through 
personal power and achievement, of seeking wider spheres for 
growth and expansion ' ' in all the grace and beauty of which 
we are capable," — this instinct (if it is an instinct) has driven 
many a choice spirit to the seats of culture and knowledge, 
and the sharp attrition of mind on mind. Unless there is an 
adequate return this type of exodus can only impoverish the 
rural community. Of course, the true poet will pray the 
Muse that he may touch the strings of his lyre to make joy- 
ous and elevate the common life in a thousand hamlets and on, 
ten thousand hills. The painter, the singer, the statesman 
and reformer, the preacher of righteousness and the larger 
life, will all labor for such a great purpose. The world must 
have, and will have, its Poet, its Prophet its Philosopher, its 
Saint, its Architect, its Harmonist, its Painter, its Sculptor, 
its I^aw Giver, its Scientist, its Humorist and its Achiever, 
whether the country district is sometimes impoverished or not. 
For at least once, the end justifies the means. No one doubts 
that the genius makes considerable return to the community 
from which he came. Is it equally true in the case of those 
possessing a lower grade of endowment or talent ? (23) 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 21 

CHAPTER II 

The Rural School of To-day as Compared with 
That of an Earlier Day. 

The plan of this chapter precludes anything like a detail- 
ed account of the rural school as it was before 1870, when it 
was fast approximating a common organization, and to an al- 
most identical type of administration, instruction, and dis- 
cipline in all parts of our country where it had been establish- 
ed for any time. (24) This tendency was at that time so 
strong as to arouse notes of warning from various quarters 
lest those who guarded the destinies of the public school 
should be so much influenced by the spirit of uniformity as to 
neglect local interests and demand^. (25) The comparison 
in this chapter can be made, therefore, only in a general way. 
A knowledge of the salient characteristics of the earlier school 
will be taken for granted. 

If the host of European visitors who travelled in our 
country up to the time of the Civil War to study our social 
life, our educational system, our institutions, and our customs, 
were permitted to re-visit our country this year of Grace, 
SI905, one of the first remarks they would make would be : 
" How the schools have changed in architecture, in the char- 
acter of their teaching bodies, in the number, spirit, and 
appearance of their students, in the course of study, and in 
everything that goes to make up a school and a school 
system ! " That these changes are real, and not mere 
semblances, is a part of every pedogogical creed. The 
changes which our supposed re-visitors, Siljestrom, Dupont 
de Nameur, Bishop James Fraser, De Tocqueville, Grimke, 
and the rest, would remark upon, would doubtless cluster 
around the schoolhouse, its location, furniture, and equip- 
ment, the teacher, course of study, general character of 
students, length of term, supervision, text-books, and the 
attitude of patrons. 

What have been the changes, therefore, which have taken 
place within the past third of a century in our public school, 
and more particularly in our rural school ? 

I. The log schoolhouse has passed away entirely unless 
it be in some mountainous or retarded district where architec- 
tural innovations are latest to intrude ; the same statement 
may be made in respect to the little red schoolhouse. (26) 

Generally built by the voluntary effort of the patron far- 
mers, who had no knowledge of school hygiene, and very 
little of school architecture, the schoolhouses were uncomfor- 
table, quite pervious to wind and rain, with low ceilings where 



22 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

any were to be found, and extremely awkward and stifE desks 
and benches. (27) In all these respects the contemporary 
rural school is greatly improved. Albert P. Marble says that 
much interest was taken in school architecture during the two 
\j decades beginning with 1871. (28) He claims that this at- 
tention was well directed and bore fruit in the improvement of 
schoolhouses, and in sanitation. Walter Sargent writes : "Vary- 
ing ideas of child life, of what constitutes education, of the 
relation to the community, have changed the location and 
shape and furnishings of school buildings. There are por- 
trayed the renaissance of public education with its demand 
for good buildings and equipment and well trained teachers, 
its higher ideal of discipline and its encouraging promise for 
the future. The architecture and equipment grow very confi- 
dential with the records and secrets they hold. " (29) 

While these statements are not equally true when applied 
to the rural schoolhouse, yet the general trend is toward im- 
provement in rural school architecture. The houses are of 
better size and proportions, have higher ceilings, and manifest 
slight attempts at the ornamental. They are often kept neat- 
ly painted and are provided with a small play-ground, larger 
window area, shutters, and flag-pole. It must be admitted 
that the question of the proper orientation, ventilation, and 
heating of schoolhouses, has not seriously burdened the coun- 
try mind. There are some indications of greater care in the 
choice of sites for the location of rural schools. 

2. The furniture of rural schools has greatly improved 
within comparatively recent years. The writers of school 
reminiscences are very clear on this point. This commend- 
able change can be verified in the experience of any person 
whose memory spans a quarter of a century. The unyielding, 
clumsy desk and bench have been consigned to the rubbish 
heap and a type similar to those of the city school inaugurated. 

3. School apparatus has increased in quantity and 
improved in quality in many of our rural schools. Reading, 
anatomical, and geographical charts are often found, and they 
are valuable auxiliaries in the school room. Even if their 
contents are not always understood by the young teacher, it 
is a perpetual stimulus of curiosity, and a diflScult question 
from some bright student will probably cause a teacher who 
lays any claim to self-respect to make some after-school re- 
searches into the intricacies of her charts. A school globe 
and a set of mathematical blocks are also often found. Rather 
accurate maps are generally to be found on the walls of the 
small schoolhouse. 

4. The course of study is greatly changed. The number 
of subjects has been increased, and the demands in several 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 23 

of them have been lightened by the elimination of what have 
come to be regarded as unimportant details. This process of 
elimination has been especially marked in arithmetic, gram- 
mar, geography, and history, but it may be traced in other 
subjects, as in spelling and reading. 

The hope of those who have gradually developed our 
present rural school curriculum was that it should not be less 
thorough than it had been in the days of the three R's, 
and that it should be a far richer course. It is planned to 
give the student a much better idea of his environment. This 
was the avowed aim of its authors. Geography is necessary 
that the student may read more intelligently, may know about 
the earth as the home of man. History is necessary that he 
may know how the present has grown out of the past, how 
great men brought things to pass, and how our country has 
become what it is. Physiology and hygiene are necessary 
that he may know his own body, the laws of health and 
growth, the structure and functions of the body and its parts. 
And so on through the list. Commissioner Harris speaks of 
the five windows of the soul, and thinks they find their coun- 
terpart in the five great lines of human inquiry, viz : mathe- 
matics, science, history, literature, and language and 
grammar. (30) 

5. The teachers of these schools are not the same teach- 
ers. With the passing of the little schoolhouse must be 
recorded also the passing of the old schoolmaster. Generally 
a young woman or a young man who knows nothing of the 
traditions of the earlier teacher, now occupies his place. The 
teacher of to-day is younger. A year or two earlier she was 
probably a student in the same school in which she is now a 
teacher. The requirements for certification as teacher are 
steadily becoming severer, and yet young people pass the 
examinations, qualify, secure a school, and teach. 

Formerly the teacher was generally a man ; now it is 
more frequently a young woman. In either case the average 
term of service is shorter than formerly. The young woman 
may be tactful enough to secure a reappointment for the sec- 
ond or third term ; but according to the law of averages, she 
will teach no more than three years. She will then marry 
probably, and the place will be taken by another who has 
come up from the ranks of country school students. If it is a 
young man, he remains only until he has enough money to go 
to college, enter upon the study of some profession, or set up 
in business for himself. His experience too is limited by the 
law of averages to a service of three years. The fact that a 
rather large number in the aggregate remain longer than the 



24 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

term above indicated only goes to show how many there are 
who really teach less than the average term of service. 

It often happens that this young rural teacher has been 
away to a normal school or an academy, and may even be a 
graduate. Many such teachers bring to their work a knowledge 
of facts, principles, and methods, together with a confidence 
and enthusiasm that are simply irresistible, and consequently 
teach unusually good schools. This type is to be found in 
every county where the normal school has gone with its ser- 
vice for the rural school. It was this school whose interests 
the normal schools were designed first of all to promote. 

6. Marked changes, too, must be recorded in the size of 
the rural school in most parts of our country. The old build- 
ing designed to accommodate from forty to sixty children, if it 
still remains, is no longer filled. A smaller number of students 
attend it. Moreover, instead of the sound of boundless merri- 
ment connected with the old-time games participated in at 
that earlier rural school, a quieter type of child is found on 
its playground. The scholars are often painfully reserved and 
the conditions are not such as to conspire to the play of gener- 
ous rivalry and the contagious interest of numbers. 

The prevalence of smaller families is doubtless a contrib- 
uting cause of the smaller school attendance. The rural 
exodus resulting, as is often claimed, in the utter abandon- 
ment of some rural homesteads, and the prevalence of smaller 
families would suffice, therefore, to explain why the school 
now has a smaller attendance. Is the smaller school enroll- 
ment enough to explain the lack of youthful exuberance on 
the playground ? Unfortunately, no ; for it has for several 
decades been held that a different type of family frequently 
occupies these homes, a family with a lower standard of life. 
If so, it would send to the rural school a set of pupils less 
playful, less ambitious, less active withal, and less responsive 
to the play instinct and to the educational and cultural appeal. 

The greatest care must be exercised in such a study lest 
isolated cases should be taken as examples of the whole, and 
lest rare or local types be too broadly generalized. But ^ the 
rural school will never be fully understood until the inner life 
of the rural home is much more fully understood than it is 
now. If the school is only one of the educational agencies 
which nourish and mold the whole life of a child, the home 
certainly, must be named among the first of such other agen- 
cies in importance. Possibly it would be within the truth to 
say that up to the time of his entering the school as such, the 
home has been more than a school to the child. But 
what kind of school has it been ? There are homes and 
homes, and the educational value of the home depends almost 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 25 

wholly upon the character of the parents. Hence arises the 
educational significance of such matters as the standard of life 
and the family budget ; matters long ago carefully studied and 
clearly exhibited particularly by such men as I^ePlay, Lavergne, 
Ivavoisier, and I^aveleye, the founders of social science. 
Equipped with a thorough knowledge of the concepts and 
methods of the sciences, both general and special, I,e Play set 
out with his comrade, Jean Reynaud, to travel on foot 4250 
miles in 200 days that he might study social conditions of all 
sorts of people and test his social theories. Thus he gathered 
the vast material which took shape in his work, ''Les Ouvriers 
Europeens^ 1885." "Show me your budget, and I will read 
your mode of life," wrote Le Play. Wants cannot be satisfied 
without means, but wants are the marks or indices of character, 
seemed to be Le Play's line of argument. Hence the import- 
ance he attached in all his studies to the budgets and wants of 
typical families. (31) 

^ Mr. Arthur F. Bently about 1893 made a careful study 

of the economic conditions of the farming class in a small part 
of one of our great western states. (32) Such studies pro- 
mise well for a better understanding of the rural school and 
its needs, but to be of the greatest educational value the 
studies must include what some one has dared to call the 
" higher economies," the whole intellectual, moral, aesthetic, 
and religious environment of those farmers. 

7. The attitude of the neighborhood may teach us a 
great deal about the character of the school and its hold and 
influence upon the life of the community. This has certainly 
changed within a few decades. The rural school has never 
been oppressed by the demands made upon it as a social center 
for the community, and yet this demand is generally far less 
than it was formerly. The spelling-bee, the singing school, 
the Sunday School, the literary and debating society, lectures 
and preaching, all meetings of a decidedly socializing value, 
are held far less frequently in the schoolhouse than they were 
several decades ago. Doubtless the rural exodus, the preva- 
lence of smaller families, and the different type of rural fami- 
ly are sufl&cient to explain the neglect of the rural school as a 
social center. But to these should be added for the purpose 
of complete analysis the increase in the number of small 
struggling rural churches with their distracting, disintegra- 
ting influence so far as the feeling of social oneness or j soli- 
darity is concerned. Hence the neglect of the rural schoolhouse 
for all but strictly educational purposes. 

The school exhibition was another neighborhood meet- 
ing whose memory lingered long in any rural community 
where some active, ambitious teacher developed some feature 




TABLE I. LENGTH OF SCHOOL TERM. Prom IT. S. Com. of Ed. Report, 1903i 
Vol. I, P. LXXXVI. This curve shows only quinquennial fluctuations, not annua 
ones as in the original curve. 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 27. 

that was new. All these meetings furnished subjects of con- 
versation of a value distinctly higher than that of the average 
neighborhood gossip. They made a community aware of its 
own powers, made it conscious of itself as a creative center on 
a small scale. The effect upon the community was very 
similar to that upon some Greek neighborhood from which a 
youth went forth to win a prize at the Olympian games. 
Talent in students received recognition in the minds of the en- 
tire community, and an exhibition of unusual merit might for 
a generation be heralded in a rural neighborhood. 

8. I^ength of school term is another respect in which 
our rural school differs from that of several decades ago. By 
repeated additions of a month, or even of a half month, often, 
the term has gradually grown from three or less to four, from 
four to five, five to six, six to seven, and from seven to eight 
months in rural districts in which the lengthening process has 
gone so far. 

And in no other country of the world, probably, have 
such changes in an educational system come about so grad- 
ually, so unobstrusively, and nowhere, surel}^ have these 
and other like changes been more completely due to those 
evolutionary forces which are everywhere at work in great 
democratic masses. But these changes often exhibit the 
skill and the wisdom of the educational leader. 

This is the proper connection in which to discuss briefly 
the relation between the people and their educational system, 
and the significance and method of educational leadership, 
although these are topics not very closely related with the 
subject of this chapter. 

Leaders of aristocratic, if not of anti-democratic instincts, 
may have done signal service for the cause of popular educa- 
tion in America, but to have any measure adopted and thereby 
given a local or state sanction it has always had to be submitted 
(i) either to universal suffrage where some constitutional 
enactment was concerned or (2) to representative bodies in 
state, country, city or district, chosen to such position by uni- 
versal suffrage within such political division. This is not to 
the disparagement of educational leadership, in which there 
is just now, happily, a growing interest. It only shows what 
may be termed one of our educational dogmas — in all educa- 
tional affairs of the people it is the people in the last analysis 
that must decide. Shall the learned and capable therefore 
adopt the laissez-faire policy in educational matters? This 
would be the greatest of social fallacies. Fortunately our 
attention has been directed to a sounder philosophy. It has 
been pointed out that the people do not really know what 
they want, and that it is the function of education, from the 



28 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

common school to the university, to enlighten, instruct, sug- 
gest, to lead the mass of people along the lines of their best 
interests. (33) For the American masses at least this cannot 
be done by methods of paternalism, by compulsion, or forensic 
insistence ; far more effective are the methods of suggestion, 
of rational appeal, of mild persuasion. Here are the basic 
principles for a psychology of educational leadership. America 
to-day affords the best examples in the world of melioristic 
transformation in local educational systems effected largely 
through the instrumentality of trained, expert, judicious edu- 
cational leadership. In no other of the great educational 
countries is so much left to local initiative and trained leader- 
ship, and we have probably only begun a period of unprece- 
dented development in our public school system through 
this agency. The rural school has been the last of all to feel 
the transforming touch of such leadership. 

It may be fairly said that the principle of the referendum 
is fully operative in the sphere of the American public educa- 
tional system, although in the details of its functioning it is 
often awkward, tedious, uncertain. But if one were to make 
a careful study of legislative enactment of "privileged" or 
" hereditary " representative bodies oq the one hand, and of 
the voted will of great democratic masses on the other, it is by 
no means a foregone conclusion that he would assign to the 
former the stronger evidences of unfailing wisdom and judg- 
ment and a higher devotion to the welfare of the state. There 
is nothing divine, of course, in the thought, feelings, will or 
instinct of mere majorities, whether it be that of the American 
people in their quadrennial election, the Roman Senate with 
its magical S. P. Q. R. , or the English House of Lords. It is 
possible for the majority to be on one side of a great question 
and truth and justice on the other, with a small minority and 
no champions. There is something divine in the attitude of 
every honest and gifted man who sees, espouses and gives 
himself unreservedly to the cause of truth and justice and 
righteousness. The divineness is all the greater when in the 
mouth and will of the majority this cause is given currency 
and made effective. (131) The divinity is in the nature of the 
cause, the motive, the loyal support, the ceaseless effort that 
the " will of God may prevail in the world." 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 29 
CHAPTER III. 

OUR RURAL SCHOOI, AS COMPARED WITH THAT OF PRUSSIA. 

It has been said that Melanchthon was the teacher of 
Germany, and also that Germany has been the schoolmaster 
of the world. This is high praise, and in many respects it 
must be conceded that it is well merited praise. No other 
nation has ever given such serious and effective thought 
to the education of its youth. No other nation has 
ever developed a system of education so well suited to its varied 
needs and standpoints. No other nation has so satisfactorily 
solved the problem of universal education, bringing so inher- 
ently valuable a school training within the reach of every 
child in the land, and bringing every child to the door of the 
schoolhouse in the attitude of ready and reverent discipleship. 
The German schoolmaster has begun at his own home to carry 
out the secular aspect of the Master's great command to disciple 
all people. But this secular evangelization has radiated 
widely from the Fatherland ; for the German schoolmaster's 
philosophy, his psychology, his pedagogy, his methodology, 
his spirit of devotion, his broad, profound scholarship, his 
enthusiasm, and his lofty idealism, have set the educational 
standards for the civilized world, and have been doing so for 
nearly a century. 

This does not mean that Germany's system of education 
is perfect, even when criticised according to the standards of 
an earlier day ; it does not mean that she needs to make no 
changes readapting her system to a changed environment and 
the demands of a new age. It does mean that in spite of im- 
perfections, her contribution to the science and method of 
education has been greater than that of any other nation. Her 
supremacy in the sphere of educational philosophy and prac- 
tice is due both to the external circumstances in which she 
was placed in the opening years of the nineteenth century and 
to the very genious of the people. These have conspired to 
force serious attention upon the education of all the inhabit- 
ants, and this at a time when by no other nation was universal 
education receiving such attention. 

If to Athens is voted the credit for having solved the 
problem of an aristocratic education in its physical, intellectual 
and aesthetic aspects, to Germany must be given the credit 
for having discovered the worth of the individual and the 
great corollary thereto, viz: that education is the birthright of 
every child born to a nation. So that Germany took up the 
problem of the education of the race where Athens left off 
about twenty-two centuries earlier, converted a splendid aris- 



30 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

tocratic system of education into one that is thoroughly demo- 
cratic in its way, and supplemented Greek education by carry- 
ing its operation into the domain of the moral and religious 
life. In less than one century, in this way she has achieved 
results which warrant the above lauditory predications, though 
strong thej' may have seemed to be. 

If no more than a fraction of these plaudits were deserved, 
there would still be sufi&cient ground and warrant for the in- 
troduction at this point in the study, of a comparison between 
the rural school of our country and that of Germany, or more 
particularly that of Prussia. The chief points in respect to 
which a comparison will be instituted are the course of study 
and the teacher. 

I . The Course of Study. This is more definite, more 
uniform, in Germany than it is with us. There is a uniform 
minimum course in each state, and this may be so arranged 
and so supplemented by local authorities as to suit local needs. 
Prussia's system of education has been referred to by visitors 
more than that of any other German state. Then, too, she 
is the dominant state to-day in the national life and develop- 
ment of the nation, and the largest of all the German states. 
These are sufficient grounds for the prevailing custom of tak- 
ing the course of study in Prussia as typical of that for the 
whole country. Moreover, it is in Prussia that are to be 
found the beginnings of the public school called into existence, 
partly supported, and wholly directed by the state. (34) 

Prussia's course of study, required of^ all schools, of 
whatever grade, is as follows : 

Religion History 

Language Geography 

Mathematics Natural Science ^^ 

Singing Gymnastics"(boys) P 

Drawing Needlework (girls) | 

Under language are included speaking, reading, spelling, 
writing, and under mathematics are to be named arithmetic 
and elementary geometry. If it is remembered that pupils of 
all schools, whether graded or not, are divided into three 
grades (Stufen), elementary, middle and upper, the following 
table which exhibits the number of hours given to any sub- 
ject in each grade in a week, will be perfectly plain. 

TABLE II. GERMAN COURSE OF STUDY. 

One-Class School. : One Teacher, 
subjects el. gr. mid. gr. up. gr. 

Religion 4... 5... 5 

German Language 11 . . . 10 . . . 8 

Mathematics 4... 4... 5 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 31 

SUBJECTS EL. GE. MID. GR. UP. GR. 

Drawing 1 ... 2 

Science 2 ... 2 

Singing 1...2...2 

History 2 ... 2 

Geography 2 ... 2 

Gymnastics (boys) \ 

Needlework (girls) / 1... 2... 2 

Totals 21 30 30 

If the school has more than one class, viz. , if it is graded, 
the following differences are to be noted in the required course 
of study. Religion is taught only four hours in the middle 
and upper grades ; German is taught 8 hours in the middle 
grade ; arithmetic is taught 4 hours in the upper grade ; geo- 
metry (Raumlehre) has two hours in the middle grade ; science 
may be made 4 hours in the upper grade ; and gymnastics and 
needlework have one hour added in the elementary grade. ^^^ 

At first sight it may not appear that the Prussian course 
of study is very different from that which is found in the 
American rural school. A closer examination is required to 
see what the course really is. There is in every subject a 
very definite object to be reached. In religious instruction, 
e. g. , it is ability to read the Holy Scriptures with under- 
standing, to secure a knowledge of the chief dogmas of the 
church to which the children belong, and to gain an acquaint- 
ance with the practices and duties of a religious life. Re- 
ligious instruction may be divided into (i) sacred history as 
found in the Old and New Testament ; the growth of the 
church in apostolic times, the history of the church fathers, 
the introduction of Christianity into Germany, I^uther and 
the great stand taken by Protestantism for the freedom of the 
religious conscience. (2) Bible reading. In the upper grade 
chapters from the Psalms, Prophets, and the New Testament 
are studied. 

On Saturday the lessons for the service of the next day 
are read and explained ; a plan especially practicable in strictly 
rural districts where the families are adherents of the same 
denomination. (3) The Catechism. If it is a Lutheran 
community, Luther's Shorter Catechism is taught and ex- 
plained. The lower grade learns the decalogue. Lord's prayer 
and texts of Scripture. The pastor completes this work, pre- 
paring the older children for confirmation when they leave 
school. (4) Sacred songs, which are taught through all 
grades, beginning with those most familiar in the particular 
community. About thirty of these are committed to memory 
after every diflSculty has been explained. (5) Prayers. To 
the smaller children are taught prayers of morning, midday 



32 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

and evening, and these are used at the opening and closing of 
school each day. The various church sacraments and services 
are explained to the older children. The German abounds in 
beautiful hymns which must have a high moral and religious 
value when thoroughly learned. 

Instruction in language includes speaking, reading, writ- 
ing, and grammar, and these are all kept in the closest 
connection throughout the course. They are thoroughly cor- 
related, (i) In speaking the aim is to get the children (a) 
to pronounce every word correctly and distinctly ; (b) to ex- 
press their thoughts freely and accurately in simple sentences, 
(c) to express their thoughts using complex sentences ; (d) 
to express correctly, fluently, and accurately thoughts obtained 
from book, story, address, in a topical manner. (2) In 
writing, pupils must be able to write and spell correctly any- 
thing that they will meet with in practical life. (3) In 
teaching reading the alphabet method is forbidden by law. 
About thirty pieces are taken for a year's work, and the con- 
stant aim is to have pupils understand thoroughly the thought 
that is contained in these selections. These pieces are to be 
chosen and taught so as to inculate a taste for good literature, 
to awaken a love for the fatherland, and to give some 
acquaintance with the great writers. National poems are 
committed to memory after a thorough mastery of the thought 
content. (4) Grammar is given in the last years of the 
course and consists of simple sentences and the simplest rela- 
tions of the parts of speech, followed by compound and com- 
plex sentences and a more thorough study of the parts of 
speech. So much time is given from the first to the thorough 
establishment of the correct language habit that little time is 
required for technical grammar. The reading book contain- 
ing the gems of German literature above referred to, is the 
basis of all the other language work. 

In arithmetic all the fundamental operations of concrete 
and abstract numbers from i to 100 are taught in the lower 
grade ; in the middle grade come unlimited numbers, concrete 
and abstract, fractions, reduction, and the simple rule of three; 
while the upper grade children review and complete fractions, 
make applications of previous work to problems of practical 
life, and learn all the branches of percentage, and, where possi- 
ble, the extraction of roots. Mental calculation {^Kopfrechnen) 
is the kind of work that is given to the lower grade child- 
ren, and it must precede slate work in every grade. By 
means of practical problems the system of money, weight, and 
all measures are taught. Clear, correct language in every 
exercise, ability to solve the problems independently, accu- 
rately, and rapidly are the points emphasized. Exercise books 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 33 

are carefully kept by every pupil, and all exercises and prob- 
lems are recorded therein and solved. This is the basis of the 
work in arithmetic, and not a text-book, for there is no such 
text-book in common use. 

Elementary geometry, drawing, and history may be passed 
over with a few remarks. In all there is a very definite, 
practical aim, and the teacher knows exactly what that aim is. 
The national history is developed chronologically, but the 
committing to memory of chronological dates and events is 
forbidden. 

Geography begins with a study of the child's immediate 
surroundings (^Heimatkunde) , and reaches outward through 
province, state, fatherland, and world. Mathematical geogra- 
phy is not neglected. Mere memoriter work in connection 
with cities, mountains, rivers, countries, and capitals is not 
allowed. 

In science the work is made to touch closely upon the 
needs and surroundings of the children. It consists of object- 
ive studies in physiology, botany, zoology, mineralog}^ and 
physics. Experiments are made wherever possible. The 
aim is to awaken a lively interest in natural phenomena and 
to inculcate the observing habit. 

In singing, hymns and national songs are taught from 
notes, the aim being to make pupils sing correctly in chorus 
and alone. Thus each German child goes out equipped with 
a good elementary knowledge of musical notation, an interest 
in music, and has at instant command a large number of songs 
and hymns which he has committed to memory gradually 
through the school years. 

It is unnecessary in this connection to discuss the work 
done in gymnastics and with the needle. Thus far in the 
study of the Prussian course of study I have followed Profes- 
sor Levi Seeley. (35) 

Again some one will ask, " Is there really such a great 
difference as is usually claimed there is between this course of 
study and that which is in vogue in our American rural 
school ? " In order to establish the substantial correctness of 
this contention, it will be necessary to turn at once to a study 
of the work of the two schools as judged from the character 
of the output. This is not easy, as requisites for success in 
Germany are not necessarily the same as in America. But 
there are lines of approach that are promising and suggestive. 
The mental ability and culture equipment of children at any 
given age is certainly a fair criterion. 

It is claimed by those who have gone into the matter with 
great care that the German child is about three years ahead 
of the American child in the same general class of school. (36) 



34 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

This is the same as to say that ftom the general standpoint of 
mental power and mental equipment the German child at 14, 
vvhen he completes the course of study in the Volkschule, is as 
far on and as ready to take up arms for the battle of life as the 
American child is after he has gone through the primary, gram- 
mar, and from two to three years of the high school course, 
when he would be 16 or 17 years of age. This is a serious 
charge of educational inefficiency laid against our common 
school ; and these charges deserve the most careful investiga- 
tion, for they have been made not by enemies of our school or 
our people, but by educational experts. What explanations, 
therefore, can be given for the existence of such pronounced 
differences of achievement in the two educational systems ? 

A number have been suggested and these should be taken 
up in order. It has been pointed out ( i ) that the difficult 
orthography of the English language is a great handicap to 
the American child ; (2) that there is great waste incident to 
our intricate system of measures for weights, value, distances, 
areas, solids, liquids ; (3) that our much shorter school year 
is a factor of considerable importance ; (4) that the American 
teacher is comparatively inefficient because of a lack of gener- 
ally high professional training and accurate scholarship. (36) 
To these should be added other auxiliary causes, as (5) the 
indefiniteness and incoherency of our course of study, and (6) 
the substitution in the American school of the text-book for 
the living teacher, a procedure due in part to cause, (4) above, 
and also, no doubt to our endeavor, often quite unconscious, 
to throw the child upon his own resources at an early age. 
The dread of incompleteness, too has doubtless contributed to 
our attitude of reliance upon the text-booJj; rather than upon 
the teacher. 

That the mastery of our orthography is a difficult under- 
taking there is no doubt. Dr. L. R. Klemm declares that if 
by any means our orthography were simplified to the same ex> 
tent as the German orthography has been simplified, it would 
be a saving of one year to every child in our country. (36) 
Comparatively little time is taken for it in Germany, and yet 
spelling reaches a degree of perfection which is not even ex- 
pected in our country. The time saved in this way in Ger- 
many is devoted to history and literature. The studies of Dr. 
J. M. Rice have shown that much time is wasted in our futile 
attempt in America to attain perfection in orthography. Ac- 
cording to Dr. Rice schools devoting forty minutes a day to 
the subject of spelling produce no better spellers than other 
schools in which fifteen minutes is the time allotment. He 
further contends that the results are largely if not wholly in- 
dependent of the particular method adopted in a given school. 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 35 

(37) Dr. O. P. Cornman, of Philadelphia North East School, 
made similar studies and reached practically the same results. 

(38) 

Another time-saving element in the German system is the 
slight demand made upon the memory in acquiring the facts 
necessary for denominate calculations. There are but ten 
words to learn in Germany or France in all of his mensura- 
tion tables, and if the student has thoroughly learned these in 
all their mutual relations he is as well equipped as our Ameri- 
can child after his laborious attempts and re- attempts to mas- 
ter our intricate tables of weight and measures. These ten 
words are the Greek kilo, hedo, deka ; the Latin ded, centi, and 
milli; and four metrical names, viz., metre, are, liter, and 
gramme. (39) 

The longer school year is named rightly as a cause con- 
tributory to the different results in the two systems. Almost 
everywhere in Germany it is a year of 250 school days. In 
America, the average for the whole country is a school year of 
145 davs, and in the North Atlantic States it is 177.3 days. 
(40) It requires very little arithmetic to show one that the 
American teacher can not teach as much in 177.3 days (much 
less in 145 days) as the German teacher can in 250 days. To 
this must be added another fact, viz., that the attendance is 
much more regular in Germany than it is with us. In our 
country there was in 1900 — '01 an average attendance of 70.4 
days for every child 5 to 18 years of age, or 98.8 days' school- 
ing for each child enrolled. In the North Atlantic group of 
states these figures rise to 90.3 and 128 days respectively. (40) 

2. The teaching body. 

Permanency of educational policy, philosophy, method, 
the stability of the teacher's position, and the large measure 
of freedom he enjoys in the inner working of his school ; his 
accountability to men of thorough educational and professional 
training ; the thorough preparation the young teacher has re- 
ceived both academically and professionally ; the inborn tend- 
ency of the German mind to seek a philosophic basis for all of 
its operations — its ever felt need of a philosophy of educa- 
tion ; — these are causal elements of greater significance even 
than the factors which have been noticed above. It is prob- 
able that every American teacher who has really become ac- 
quainted with the inner workings of the German school would 
agree with the position that if the German teacher had a 
mother tongue with an unimproved, or an aphonetic, orthog- 
raphy, and the American teacher one revised according to the 
demands of a most rigid phoneticism, the children of the for- 
mer would still be farther along on the highway of learning 
than those of the latter at the age of fourteen years. And if 



36 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

SO, it is due (in so far as the previous analysis fails to reveal 
adequate causes of the differences which it was attempted to 
explain) to what may be stated in the following brief proposi- 
tion ; ( I ) the teacher is better prepared both on the know- 
ledge and didactic side ; (2) the work he is to do is more defi- 
nite in quantity and quality ; (3) the attitude of the teacher 
to the whole educational problem and process is different. 

What, then, of the preparation of the German teacher and 
his attitude on the whole educational problem and process? 
At the end of a three years' normal school course, which every 
new teacher now must have had, or an equivalent, he receives an 
appointment for a probationary period of teaching. The grades 
given on this preliminary examination for the two year pro- 
bationary period are "vortrefflich" or "excellent", "gut" or 
"good", and "genuegend" or "satisfactory," These marks 
are given in each subject of study, and also in skill in teaching, 
moral character, and fitness to teach. A candidate who has re- 
ceived "vortrefflich" may go on to teach three years with the 
consent of the proper authorities and the final examination 
may be held later or even be dispensed with. (41) But the 
teachers usually want to come up for the final at the earliest 
possible moment, i.e., after two years of probationary service. 
This guarantees them a permanent position and makes them in 
reality servants of the state. 

For the final examination they appear before the state 
board of examiners, which consists of the faculty of the near- 
est normal school, presided over by a privy school councillor. 
This is sometimes called the candidate' s ' 'review examination. ' ' 
(42) The 'state desires to know whether or not he has been 
traveling the road of development. Has he developed skill in 
the instruction process ? Has he gained in mastery in the fund- 
amental branches of the curriculum? Has he branched out into 
vital contact with the masterpieces of educational literature 
and with current educational discussion in his country ? Can 
he plan a study, outline it, write it up logically and clearly, and 
defend it skilfully ? The examination is set with the purpose 
of bringing these facts to the light of day, and if the candi- 
date can pass this test he is exempt from further test of that 
sort, and may settle down to his work as a servant of the State. 
He may with confidence expect to be respected, even looked 
up to, and not be without honorable employment. As he 
teaches from year to year the consciousness will develop within 
him that those whose lives he is so certainly shaping to his own 
will and mind, will a generation later be the makers and en- 
joyers of a somewhat nobler civilization. Seeley says : "The 
German schoolmaster loves the work to which he has devoted 
his life. And that love makes him as truly a consecrated and 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 37 

self-sacrificing man as if he had devoted himself to the sacred 
calling. A nobler class of men does not exist on God's foot- 
stool than the German school teachers." (43) 

The German teacher's preparation, conscientiousness, and 
spirit account for the fact that with so few text-books in the 
hands of his students he accomplishes such results as he does 
in the schoolroom. In Germany a text-book is never allowed to 
come between the teacher and the child ; in America the 
teacher, the child, and often the superintendent are slaves to 
the text-book. The teacher's main task is to interpret some 
one's text, on a given subject, not to develop the subject in her 
own original strong way. 

The normal school graduate is looked after during the two 
years' probationary teaching by the principal of the normal 
school, and is directed and assisted in the internal work of the 
school. Not only so, but even after the final examination the 
principal keeps up his visits, and if there should not be 
sufficient signs of a strictly professional devotion to duty, or if 
there were signs of inadequate preparation so far as the normal 
school could supply it, he could be directed to return to the 
normal school for such further studies and preparation. Thus 
the normal school keeps in the closest organic touch with the 
public school and acts as an "impelling, inspiring, and dis- 
ciplinary force." (44) 

In a number of important respects the German rural 
school master is superior to our American rural school teacher. 
He is eager to meet his examiners for the final state exami- 
nation and pass the tests by them imposed. He has conscious 
power and a feeling of mastery in the several subjects of the 
curriculum. The young inexperienced teacher, however thor- 
oughly he may be prepared academically and pedagogically, 
is sent to the city and town to get his first experience. And 
so it results that many of the best teachers are to be found in 
the rural schools. There are no such commonly recognized 
qualitative distinctions as with us, between the work of the 
rural and the urban school. The normal school course is pre- 
cisely the same and in the western part of the Empire the rural 
are regarded as quite as good as the city schools. (45) 

The rural schools of Germany have as much and as 
efficient supervision as the urban ; but neither have as much 
as our urban schools because the German teacher's professional 
preparation and progressive spirit render supervision less 
necessary. (46) The same general statement relative to the 
preparation of teachers, supervision and length of term would 
hold of the schools in Austria and Switzerland. 

The superior preparation and the high regard in which 
teachers are held in the community give them a rational self- 



38 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

confidence which goes far towards guaranteeing the higher 
standard of educational efficiency there attained. Every man 
likes to be reflected at his full stature in the eyes of his fellow- 
men, and the proper degree of popular esteem is a factor which 
should not be neglected in determining the causes and con- 
ditions of one's professional efficiency. 

The maturer age of the German teacher before he is put 
in charge of a school is an item of importance in any 
attempt to estimate the efficiency of the two systems of 
schools. It is possible for an American teacher to be put in 
charge of a school at the age of 17, or 7 years earlier than would 
be legal in Germany, where the minimal age for such appoint- 
ment is 24 years. (47) The Pennsylvania school law fixes the 
minimal age at seventeen for graduation from a state normal 
school. Some states do not grant a diploma before the age of 
18. These are probably fair examples of minimal age limita- 
tions in the different states of the American Republic. 

The average age of teachers in the country districts of 
Pennsylvania is 25, or one year beyond the minimal age re- 
quirement in schools of Prussia. The average age of Penn- 
sylvania teachers in country and urban districts is 27 years. 
(48) The median age of teachers in Germany is 35.6 ; of 
France, 38.6 ; of the United States it is 27.2. (48a) 

In Germany it is by no means a generally accepted prop- 
osition that the urban is better than the rural school, which 
latter class includes both ungraded and graded rural school. 
It is recognized that there are losses and gains in either loca- 
tion, city or country. Which is the better with teachers 
equally trained and zealous, and with equal school equipment ? 
No less an authority than the Prussian Privy Councillor, Dr. 
K. Schneider, wrote in 1886 in response to an inquiry from 
the United States Bureau of Education as follows : " It is an 
undisputed fact that the ungraded schools, manned as they are 
with well trained graduates of normal schools, accomplish very 

satisfactory results Skill, endurance, professional 

zeal, and last but not least, the greater physical strength of 
their teachers are naturally a beneficial influence. It is well 
to remember, then, that the graded city school is not under all 
circumstances, and hence should not brevimanu be considered 
the better school." (49) An American author who visited 
the Prussian ' ' crossroad schools ' ' about the same time wrote : 
' ' I expected to find in them results such as may be found in 
the schools of an American backwood settlement, primitive in 
the extreme. But I was greatly mistaken. What I saw was 
admirable work and almost incredible results." (49) 

I quote further in appreciation of the Prussian common 
school system, and this time from Dr. R. Ivaishley, who in 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 39 

1886 visited these schools as a representative of the educational 
department of his home government in New Zealand. ' ' We 
find discipline established and maintained and cor- 
rect information imparted in the most systematic mode pos- 
sible, by thoroughly qualified teachers. The consequence is 
education — not merely instruction — is carried out under the 
most favorable circumstances, with no thwarting under-cur- 
rent of religious or local influences." (50) The same writer 
points out the superior disciplinary value of instruction given 
by thoroughly trained teachers. It makes possible (i) a 
wider range of subjects to be taught ; (2) a thorough mastery 
of them ; (3) a more thorough digesting of the facts taught so 
as to secure better results and a strict economy of time. (50) 

Writing of the American schools, the same authority 
says : ' ' Public education in the United States has not arrived 
at that condition which justifies its imitation as a complete 
system." (51) He particularizes the following defects : (i) 
too short a school term ; (2) imperfect training, standards of 
qualifications, and appointment of teachers ; (3) inadequate 
inspection. These he regards as conditions involving a high 
rate of illiteracy, incompetent teaching in many cases, and " a 
very general absence of that thoroughness without which 
veneer is apt to take the place of substance — causes which, as it 
seems to me, if unamended, not only retard the progress but 
sap the core of any nation." (52) It should be added in fair- 
ness that this author commends ( i ) our large measure of ocal 
government and school control ; (2) promotion of technical 
education ; (3) the teaching of temperance physiology ; (4) 
provisions as far as they go against the employment of child- 
ren of school age. (51) 

Mr. Samuel Smith, M. P., wrote to The I^ondon Times in 
March, 1888, as follows : " There is no such thing as an un- 
educated class (in Germany). . . . Nothing struck me more 
than the intelligence of the humbler working classes. . . . 
The children are not crammed, but are taught to reason from 
the earliest stages. The first object of the teacher is to make 
his pupils comprehend the meaning of everything they learn, 
and to carry them from stage to stage, so as to keep up an in- 
terest. I saw no signs of weariness or apathy among either 
teachers or scholars. . . . The instruction was through the 
eye and hand as well as the ear, and question and answer suc- 
ceeded so sharply as to keep the whole class on the qui vive. 
The teachers are, as a body, much better trained than in 
England, and seem to be enthusiastic in their calling, and the 
school holds a far higher position in the social economy of the 
country than they do with us." (53) 



40 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

My last citation on the character of the German teacher 
and German education will be from Professor James B. Rus- 
sell : ' ' The greatest service which the German states have 
done for the cause of education is unquestionably the creation 
of a teaching profession. That first step taken by Humboldt 
in 1 8 ID, which provided for the examination and certification 
of teachers, was the inauguration of a policy to which Prussia 
has converted the civilized world. And as Prussia was the 
first to take her teachers into the service of the state, so she 
has maintained her leadership in making the profession 
worthy of public honor and preferment. No other country 
has done so much to dignify teaching, and to attract to it the 
best talent ; none has so persistently and intelligently pursued 
the policy of making the teacher's position worthy of the man ; 
nowhere else can such teachers be found. Prussia has not 
only created a teaching profession, but she has trained up a 
body of men to occupy it who are without rivals the world 
over. . . . The Prussian teacher generally speaking is a man 
of noble character, high ideals, generous impulses, broad and 
accurate scholarship and technical skill ; he is a gentleman, 
patriot, and educator." (54) 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 41 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE RURAL AS COMPARED WITH THE CITY SCHOOL. 

Of the whole public school system in America, it is the 
city school which best exemplifies that characteristic upon 
which I have enlarged in the introduction of the study, viz., 
the quantitative emphasis on the material side. This will 
become quite apparent if between the two schools a compar- 
ison is instituted in a number of different respects. The best 
plan, therefore, will be to proceed by the seriatim method, as 
before. 

I, Size, scale of architecture, and cost of buildings. 
Many of our best city high schools are educational palaces, 
surpassing those of any other country in size, architecture and 
cost. Our best city elementary school buildings are a close sec- 
ond in comparison with those of the high school. In the sta- 
tistical abstract of one state superintendent's report may be 
found this item : ' ' Increase in the number of buildings valued 
above $40,000. ' ' The same abstract places the average annual 
increase in the value of school buildings at $406. The same 
state has 794 school buildings valued at less than ^1,000, 
while 207 of these are valued at between $100 and $500. 
(55) These conditions are fairly typical of the American 
states except where the movement for centralization has 
gathered some momentum. It is very clear that this increase 
in the value of school property is for buildings in cities and 
towns ; for it would be entirely unnecessary to increase the 
size, and poor economy to increase the average expense of 
rural school buildings, as most school officials would think, 
when these schools have an enrollment often falling below 
15 students. This condition obtains in more than half of the 
rural schools in all of the central and western states. (56) 
With minor exceptions, therefore, rural school architecture 
has remained unimproved for about a generation, while during 
the same period there has been the greatest activity in the 
development and improvement of urban school architecture. 

2 With apparatus and all that part of the equipment which 
has to do directly with the efficiency of the teaching, the rural 
school is, comparatively speaking, not provided at all m the 
great majority of cases. One state having 1000 school 
buildings in cities and 10,889 school buildings in commissioner 
districts, reports an expenditure of $945,867.62 for apparatus 
to be installed in the city schools, while for the same purpose 
in the rural schools the expenditure was but $66,540.49. 
School for school, the expenditure for apparatus in the city is 
154 times as great as that for the rural school. (57) One might 



42 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

put this building for building. New York may be taken as a 
fair example, inasmuch as the regents' uniform requirements 
throughout the state would tend to increase the demand for 
apparatus in the rural districts of that state more than in 
states where the same centralized authority is not found. In 
Indiana carefully prepared lists exhibit the amount and kind 
of apparatus which is deemed necessary in the high school 
treatment of the several sciences before such schools shall 
think of asking for state recognition and approval. But there 
is no suggestion of apparatus for the ungraded country 
school. (58) 

3. But the student of the American rural school will go 
on to find that in the matter of orientation, ventilation, ap- 
pointments, and comfort this school suffers in the comparison. 
The doctrine that some exposures are to be preferred to others 
has not even been heard of in most rural communities. The 
school is located with its front door towards the road which 
passes the school, or if it is at a country road-crossing it is lo- 
cated in one of the angles. The sun may shine on any side 
or corner of the school — what is the difference ? And so there 
come to be as many angles of exposure as there are possible 
directions for a country road to take, or one for each degree 
of the circle. In states where roads are governed more by the 
points of the compass, there would be more uniformity in the 
orientation of rural schools, but not necessarily more conform- 
ity to the laws of architectural hygiene. In the city school 
building there will generally be found some scientific method 
of ventilation, heating, sterilizing water, closets constructed 
on the most scientific principles, cloak room facilities which 
leave nothing to be desired, and ample provision for exercise 
and play indoors in case of bad weather. The rural school is 
without any of these advantages, even down to the item of 
ventilation in which its predecessor so excelled. The rural 
school " keeps," and it may do its work very well ; but if so, 
it does it without any of those appointments which have, m 
these times of unparalled expansion in material comforts in 
the best homes, in offices, churches, cars, and in all other 
schools, become practical necessities everywhere else. 

4. In the next place the course of study invites a com- 
parison. In both schools the spirit of enrichment has been at 
work, but its progress has been far faster in the urban school. 
It is here that one finds elaborate outlines and manuals and 
sketches of requirements in all the different branches of the 
school curriculum. Without further generalization I shall pro- 
ceed to give typical courses as a basis of comparison and more 
detailed analysis. And first, then, to the urban, or city school 
course. The course of study outlined for the public schools 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 43 

of East Orange, New Jersey, will serve as the basis of this 
study, although facts will be adduced from the courses of other 
cities. Bast Orange is a suburb of New York City, is about 
ten miles from Jersey City, and has a population of 21,000 
according to the last census report. Many school superinten- 
dents have placed at my disposal the course of study for their 
respective places, but all considered, the course mentioned is 
to be preferred. It shows decidedly elaborate characteristics. 
It is fairly representative of the best small city schools to be 
found in America ; it is so explicit and definite in its directions 
to the teachers, whom it was designed to guide and direct ; 
in the schoolroom it is seriously executed, and is not a mere 
educational idea sent forth from the superintendent's office ; 
the course of study has been substantially in vogue long 
enough to test the educational equipment of the child brought 
up in accordance with its requirements ; it is a " strenuous ' ' 
course with no "soft snaps" ; the corps of teachers is a picked 
one, almost all of them have been picked out by a superinten- 
dent who finds, chooses, and practically appoints his assistants, 
just as the responsible head of a great manufacturing plant or 
mercantile establishment would do. 



Time table for the first eight grades, East Orange 






1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


Arithmetic . . 200 


250 


250 


250 


250 


200 


200 


200 


Lang. andComp. 75 


100 


100 


130 


190 


240 


240 


240 


History .... 










160 


160 


160 


Geography . . 




100 


150 


200 


160 


160 


160 


Spelling .... 75 


175 


175 


150 


100 


75 


75 


75 


Reading .... 450 


350 


350 


300 


200 


120 


120 


120 


Writing .... 75 


100 


100 


100 


75 


60 


60 


60 


Music 60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


Drawing .... 60 


60 


60 


60 


80 


80 


80 


80 


Poetry and 
















Science 90 


105 


105 


100 


80 


80 


80 


80 


Calisthenics . . 50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


Manual Training 








40 


40 


40 


40 


Opening ExerciseSO 


50 


50 


50 


75 


75 


75 


75 


Dismissal ... 50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


Recess 75 


75 















Totals per weekl335 1350 1450 1450 1450 1450 1450 1450 

(59) 

The first horizontal line of figures represents the grades 
from I to 8. The figures thereunder represent the weekly 
time allotment in minutes to the subject printed opposite, in 
the particular grade. Add the figures in the vertical columns 
to get the time for within school duties required of each grade 



44 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

each week. Add the numbers in the horizontal columns to get 
the weekly time requirement in each subject for within school 
work. 

Quite a considerable portion of the work contemplated in 
this program finds no place in the rural school. It is within 
the facts to say that the work comprised under the heads of 
science, poetry, calisthenics, and manual training, representing 
a weekly time total of 1280 minutes, islargeXy a. terra incognita 
to the average rural school. If this is multiplied by the num- 
ber of weeks of actual teaching, 37.4, we shall have a total of 
47,872 minutes for work which is simply not attempted in the 
rural schools of our country. This exhibits some of the curri- 
cular differences in a most striking manner, but there are 
other differences as significant. The weekly time total devoted 
to music and drawing is 1040 minutes in East Orange. Where 
these subjects receive any attention in the rural school cer- 
tainly not over one-fourth of that time is available for such 
work. The same general statement would be true of the other 
subjects excepting that they receive a larger proportion of time 
than music and drawing. It the typical city school curriculum 
is the ideal for all the children of our country it is quite clear 
that the typical rural school curriculum exhibits very grave 
cultural gaps. 

In the Brookline schools, children may elect French, i^ 
hours per week, in the eighth and ninth grammar school 
grades and in the ninth year, Latin 3^ hours per week. Cook- 
ing is taught the girls, i^ hours per week, in the sixth and 
seventh years. (60) 

In the educational use of the great stories of the race, 
Montclair, N. J., is in the front rank of towns. Considerable 
time is devoted to this work and the matter is arranged chron- 
ologically. These chronological divisions increase in complex- 
ity as the course advances, so that when the student has gone 
through the nine grades of the common school course he may 
be assumed to be acquainted with a large part of the race's 
literary treasures in so far as those treasures have taken shape 
in the short story or tale. The child, moreover, in such a 
course will have become acquainted with the more obvious 
divisions or ages into which literary history may be appor- 
tioned. The list of references for this well planned work in 
literature covers ten pages in the printed course of study. (61) 

It is provided in many of our best city schools that the 
child shall, during the progress of his common school course, 
come into possession of a body of positive moral teaching. 
This, as well as the teaching of literature, marks a difference 
between the rural and the city school course of study. (62) 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 45 

To complete this survey of the curricular differences be- 
tween the city and the rural school, it will be necessary to 
look into the course of study and time allotment of some typi- 
cal rural schools. In one of our large North Central states 
the following conditions obtain. The rural school is divided 
into the following divisions termed Primary Form, Middle 
Form, and Upper Form. The weekly time allotment to the 
different forms is 475, 400, and 575 minutes respectively. To 
this must be added 175 minutes each W2ek for general exer- 
cises and recesses. By subjects the time allotment is as fol- 
lows : To reading, 550 ; to arithmetic, 300 ; to language, 200 ; 
to geography, 175 ; to spelling, 125 ; to history, 100 ; to phy- 
siology, 75 ; to writing, 100 ; and to opening exercises, 25 
minutes per week. This allotment assumes a school day of 
six hours and allows two recesses of 15 minutes each. If it 
is further assumed that there are two classes in each form, 
which is probably too low an estimate, the weekly time allot- 
ment as just given for reading, arithmetic, language, spelling, 
and writing, must be divided by six, for these subjects are 
studied in all of the forms. This will give as the weekly time 
allotment for each class in these subjects much smaller figures, 
viz. : Reading, 90 ; arithmetic, 50 ; language, 35 ; spelling, 
20 ; and writing, 15 minutes. If these figures and those for 
the typical urban school are brought into close juxtaposition 
the time allotment differences may be surveyed at a glance. 



TABLE IV 

Weekly time allotment in Country and City. 

W.R.S. E.O. 

Reading 90 250 

Arithmetic 50 225 

Language 35 160 

Spelling- 20 110 

Writing 15 80 

Opening Exercises 25 62 

Poetry and Science ? 90 

Calisthenics ? 50 

Manual Training V 20 

This table shows the amount of time each class devotes to 
the subject specified. The program suggested for the Wis- 
consin common schools is drawn upon for the figures in the 
first column, the letters W.R.S. signifying Wisconsin rural 
schools, (63) 

To guard against possible error in interpreting this table, 
it should be observed that the first column indicates recitation 
minutes, while the East Orange figures represent the entire 
time spent in school, both in preparing and in reciting the 



46 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

several subjects. If it is allowed that half of the time indicated 
in the second column is used for the preparation of the several 
subjects specified, (no time being required to prepare writing) , 
it will be found that the time which is devoted to the exclu- 
ive recitation of the first five subjects is 115 per cent, greater 
in East Orange than it is in the common or rural schools of 
Wisconsin. It may be assumed that the common schools of 
Wisconsin, are fairly representative of the best rural schools 
of America, because the settled policy, everywhere manifest 
in the North West, of co-ordinating all the parts of the school 
system so as to leave no unbridged chasms between the pri- 
mary school and the state university, would have a tendency 
to raise the level of common school instruction throughout the 
state. 

Closely related to the course of study is another item, viz : 

5. The length of the school term. Exact figures exhib- 
iting the differences between the rural and the urban school 
term are not easy to find. That there is a longer term in the 
city or graded school every one knows ; exactly how much 
longer for extensive areas of our country has not been ascer- 
tained. To learn something of what these differences are, it 
will be necessary to adopt a sort of method of approximations. 

The average term of the city schools in New York is 190 
days; that of schools in " commissioner's districts " is 175 
days. This gives to the city schools of the state a time ad- 
vantage of 25 days over the common schools under the com- 
missioners. But many of the town schools are graded and 
have a longer term ; so that the term of the strictly rural or 
ungraded school is certainly much less than 170 days. The 
average term for the whole state is 177 days. This shows 
that most of the schools of the state have a short term, for 
the term in the commissioner's districts is almost as long as 
the average for the state, while the average term in the cities 
rises to 195 days. In 1902 there were 10,690 commissioner's 
districts and only 1000 city school districts. (64) 

Still greater term differences are to be found in the state 
of Indiana where the schools are classified into township, 
town and city schools. The average length of term for the 
state in 1901 was 140 days ; in the townships, 133 days ; in 
towns, 145 days ; in cities, 179 days. This gives the city 
school in Indiana a term-length advantage of 46 days as com- 
pared with the rural school. But the significance of these 
figures depends upon the proportion of rural schools in the 
state. In 1901 there were 10,961 teachers employed in town- 
ship schools ; in town schools, 1,495 teachers; for the cities 
the number of teachers is 3,893. Assuming that the teachers, 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 47 

wherever they teach, have an equal number of students, the 
students having a short term were almost three times as num- 
erous as those having a long term. (65) 

In 1903 Missouri had a rural school term of 126 days and 
a term of 171 days in her cities and towns. This is a diflEer- 
ence of 45 days. The total enrollment for the rural schools 
was 402,945, while in the city and town schools the enroll- 
ment was 301,248. (66) 

South Carolina has some statistics on the point in ques- 
tion. The average length of term as reported by the county 
commissioners was 104 days, and the average term in districts 
under local laws, 174 days. These latter schools are the 
schools which have superintendents. This makes a yearly 
disparity of 70 days in the schooling of 248,480 rural school 
children within the borders of one state. (67) The city 
child has 70 days more schooling each year. 

There are now only two great sections of our country not 
represented in these statistics, and I shall add some facts from 
states fairly representative of conditions in these sections, viz: 
Texas, of the South Central States, and Colorado of the Western 
States. Texas has an average school term of 102 days, and 
Colorado, one of 135 days. These figures are very close to 
the average school term, for the whole section thus represent- 
ed. If the city school term is put at 170 and 180 days, for the 
two sections respectively, the rural term of the South Central 
section will fall 68 days short of the term in cities and towns ; 
and the corresponding difference in the Western Section will 
be 45 days. (68) 

To recapitulate, the excess of the urban over the rural 
school term would appear to be as follows in the states that 
have been mentioned : In New York, 25 days ; in Indiana, 
46 ; in Missouri 45 ; in South Carolina, 70 ; in Colorado, 45 ; 
and in Texas, 68 days. These figures may be left to speak 
their own message. They require no further comment. They 
have served their purpose if they have shown in a somewhat 
definite way this one d ifference between the rural and the 
city school of our day— the much longer term enjoyed by stu- 
dents in schools of the latter class. 

6. The teacher. There is a marked difference between 
the teaching staff for our country schools and that required 
for the city schools. On this point it is as difficult to find data 
giving the conditions in large areas of our country as it was 
on the length of the school term in the different kinds of 
schools. This point is inadequately treated in most of the 
state school reports, and in the reports of the United States 
Commissioner of Education. The Committee of Twelve called 
attention to the lack of proper data on this subject, and we may 



48 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

hope for the gradual remedy of this defect. (69) Certain 
general observations have been made and often repeated on the 
disparity between the urban and the rural teacher. B-g., the 
number of normal school graduates employed in rural schools 
is "lamentably small." (70) The higher salary and longer 
term of the city school attract the normal school graduates in 
large numbers. If they do not secure an urban school at 
once, a year or two's experience in the rural school makes 
them eligible to urban appointment, and they then go to the 
city. Most of the rural teachers are "young graduates from 
the village high school, some favorite among neighborhood 
families, or a type of ancient teacher whose placid life is not 
disturbed by the vexing problems of his profession." (70) A 
large part of the rural teachers possess no higher education or 
training than that which they obtain in the rural school itself. 

Some of these differences may be seen more clearly if one 
first learns the conditions which are suggested here and there 
throughout the various state reports. Al? u7io disce omnes. 
In 1903 25 per cent, of all the teachers in the state of New 
Jersey were without experience, or had lesis than one year's 
experience. The average experience for the whole state is 
five years and six months. (71) The average experience 
for city teachers is seven years and eight months. Only 18 
per cent, of the city teachers have had less than one year's ex- 
perience. (72) Since the first series includes the second, it 
is very clear that the inexperience is to be encountered mainly 
in the rural districts. Here are to be found the young teach- 
ers, the beginners, the comparatively ill prepared of the pro- 
fession. There are 806 inexperienced teachers employed in 
this state every year, (73) The state normal school gradu- 
ated a class of 219 in 1902. If all these were employed in the 
state it would still fall almost 600 short of the demand for 
new teachers each year. This 600 will represent those who 
come chiefly from the small high school and the ungraded 
country school. 

In New York the conditions are much the same. Of the 
36,000 teachers employed, less than 7,000 are normal school 
graduates ; 1,042 hold state certificates ; 653, college graduate 
certificates ; 7,316, training class and training school certifi- 
cates ; and 20,106 are certificated by the commissioners or 
local authorities. This means that nearly 60 per cent, of 
all the teachers hold the lowest grade of certificate. (74) 

Michigan employs about 2000 inexperienced teachers each 
year. To these must be added a considerable part of the 
10,287 applicants licensed by the county boards of examiners, 
for many of these are without experience, or have had very 
little experience. (75) This shows that the conditions are 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 49 

about the same in Michigan as in New Jersey and New York. 

In Maine i,ooo of the total corps of less than 7000 
teachers begin their work each year without experience. Only 
1,587 are graduates of a normal school. (76) 

Of Iowa's army of nearly 30,000 teachers, 6,866 were 
licensed without previous experience, or with less than one 
year's experience. (77) 

Missouri reports that less than 5 per cent, of her teachers 
hold state normal school certificates ; 5 per cent, hold state 
certificates ; and 90 per cent are certificated by local authori- 
ties. (78) 

Of Pennsylvania's 30,000 teachers over 4,000 have had 
no experience. Of these 4,065, only 791 are found in city 
schools, although one third of the schools of the state are 
classed as "city schools." Nearly one-half of the teachers of 
the state hold the provisional certificate, the lowest grade of 
local certificate issued. (79) There are 7,490 state normal 
school graduates employed, of whom 5,930 are not teaching 
in city schools. (80) This is abetter showing for normal 
school influence in rural communities than is usual in states 
whose school reports have been available during this study. 

But to the lack of experience, of academical and profes- 
sional training in teachers, must be added the low salaries 
usually paid in the rural schools. Early in the last century the 
general thought seemed to be that "anybody can teach 
school." This theory was soon discredited in the best cities 
and towns of our country, but it is the working hypothesis of 
far too many rural schoolboards and local authorities. This 
means that it is also the working hypothesis of the country 
people, for they create the local boards and authorities. A 
few facts on the salary question will suffice. 

The average annual salary in the rural schools of Mis- 
souri is $195.70 ; in the cities and towns it rises to $488.30. 
(81) In Michigan the average monthly salary for male 
teachers in ungraded schools is $29.45 ; in graded schools it is 
$84.76 The corresponding figures for female teachers are 
$26.99 and $45.94. (82) In Wisconsin the average monthly 
salary for women in the ungraded schools is $33- 1 9; for men, 
$50.93. For city schools it is $43.78 for women, and $97.62 
for males, counting the city school term at nine and one-half 
months. (83) The Committee of Twelve has worked out a 
table of average monthly salaries of men and women teachers 
in the rural schools of thirty-four of our states. One ought to 
keep these figures in view while working over the statistical 
tables of our poorly indexed state school reports. 



50 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

TABLE V 

Average monthly salaries of teachers in rural schools, (84) 

Males Females Males Females 

Alabama $25 . .820 Missouri $40 . . $34 

Arkansas . . . . 33 . . 30 Montana 60 . . 45 

California .... 67 .. 56 Nebraska 35 . . 30 

Colorado 50 . . 45 Nevada 85 . . 60 

Connecticut ... 30 . . 30 New Hampshire. . 30 . . 30 

Delaware 35 . . 33 New York .... 37 .. 37 

Illinois. ..... 30 . . 25 Ohio 35 . . 29 

Indiana 40 . . 35 Pennsylvania. . . 42 . . 33 

Iowa ....... 35 . . 30 Rhode Island ... 40 . . 36 

Kansas 40 . . 32 South Carolina . . 30 . . 27 

Kentucky . . . . 36 . . 34 South Dakota.. . . 36 . . 31 

Louisiana . . . . 40 . . 33 Utah 53 . . 37 

Maine 35 . . 22 Vermont 39 . . 27 

Maryland . . . . 29 . . 29 Virginia 28 . . 25 

Massachusetts. . 32 . . 26 West Virginia . . 36 . . 36 

Michigan 29 . . 25 Wisconsin .... 46 . . 30 

Minnesota .... 40 . . 31 Wyoming 45 . . 40 

7. The per capita cost. In this item the rural and the 
urban school differ as much as in the other respects in which 
comparisons have been made. The total per capita cost for 
the ungraded schools of Michigan is $11.79, based on the en- 
rollment, while that of the graded schools is $21.03, almost 
double, (85) For New York the corresponding figures are 
$18.02 and $35.44. (86) In Wisconsin the figures, based on 
the enrollment, are as follows : for country schools not under 
a superintendent, $11.98 ; in city schools, $19.10. (87) If in 
the northern and central parts of our country the per capita 
cost of education in the cities is almost twice as great as it is 
in the rural districts, the disproportion can only be still greater 
in the southern belt of states where the disparity is greater be- 
tween the urban and the rural school term. It is not necessary 
to enlarge upon this item, but it is necessary to take it into ac- 
count in any study of the rural school problem in our country. 

8. Size of the rural school. The small enrollment to be 
found in so many of our rural schools is a great drawback in 
spite of the fact that it allows to each child enrolled a large 
share of the teacher's time and attention for instruction and 
assistance. There can accrue to the students of such a school 
none of those advantages which are due to emulation, esprit du 
corps, generous rivalry, and the sharp attrition of mind on 
mind, all factors of no small moment in determining the char- 
acter and benefits of the urban school. There is nothing: in 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 51 

the little school to put a pupil at his best, to draw him out, to 
challenge him. If possible, moreover, the results are worse for 
the teacher than for the child. If the teacher is energetic, en- 
thusiastic, spirited, even a small school will be inoculated with 
the same qualities. It is the rarest of teachers that can keep 
up work at high tension in an environment that challenges 
her so little as the small rural school. 

Only a few precise facts are available on the size of rural 
schools. This is an item on which few of the state reports, so 
far as I have examined, give any data. It would seem that 
such data should be given in these reports, because of their 
practical bearing upon any solution of the rural school prob- 
lem. In 1903 Iowa had 38 schools with a daily attendance of 
less than 5; 424, with less than 10 ; 1,072, with less than 15 ; 
2,009, with less than 20 ; 2,553, with less than 25. Thus out 
of 9,487 rural schools in the state 6,096, or 65 per cent., have 
an average daily attendance of less than 25 ; and 3,546, or 37 
per cent., an average daily attendance of less than 20. (88) 
Sixty-one per cent, of the schools of the state of Maine are 
rural schools, and the average enrollment in these is 21. (89) 
This means that a large number of the rural schools, as in 
Iowa, have an average daily attendance much below 20. 
Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas exhibit 
like conditions of rural school attendance, which need not be 
set forth in detail in this study. (90) It is claimed on high 
authority that three-fourths of the rural schools of Nebraska 
are too small for a vigorous school life, having an enrollment 
of from I to 20 (91) "\/^ 

9 Supervision. When compared with the city school, 
the rural school is sadly lacking in supervision. Probably no 
city in the United States, and certainly no city of any educa- 
tional prominence, is without its superintendent, be his ofl&cial 
title what it may. One of the four heads under which the 
Report of the Committee of Twelve treats the problem of the 
rural school, is supervision. This report points out that com- 
petent supervision has been one of the most effective means of 
improving the public schools, and then asserts that it has been 
enjoyed by the city schools alone ; the rural school has been 
almost entirely untouched by the hand of the skilled super- 
visor. Only a few places inspired by an urban environment 
have brought their schools under trained supervision. These 
are forthwith to be classed as exceptional places. The greater 
number of the rural schools are left to their own devices, and 
to the youth, inexperience, and limited knowledge of the rural 
teacher. Some states provide manuals exhibiting in detail the 
course of study, making suggestions for the order and time 
allotment for the different subjects. In other states there 



52 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

would seem to be nothing but the school law to outline the 
course that must be taught in order that the school may be a 
legal one, and therefore entitled to its portion of the state 
school funds or annual appropriation. 

Thus the very schools and teachers that need supervision 
most have it least. From the beginning of the industrial era 
down to the present day, the importance of superintendence 
for every large industrial establishment has steadily increased. 
(92) To-day, as in 1850, expert supervision is taken as a 
matter of course in every manufactory, howsoever skilled the 
individual laborers may be. 

If supervision is so necessary in great business under- 
takings, lest material wealth placed in industrial enterprises 
should prove profitless and the welfare of the country be 
imperiled, how much more is it necessary in education under 
present conditions, when it is not possible to secure at once a 
supply of properly educated and trained teachers? Is not the 
intellectual and moral welfare of the rising generation, which 
depends more or less upon the efBciency of present-day school 
instruction, as important as the material prosperity of those 
who are old enough to be influenced by ' ' the effective desire 
of accumulation " ? Of course the spirit in which the school 
supervisor works is not necessarily the same as that of the 
entrepreneur ; for the latter has only too often assumed the 
attitude of a task-master. In either case the prime object is, 
to be sure, to increase the quantity and improve the quality of 
the work ; but the school has already learned that the best 
way to achieve this is to improve the teacher herself. If the 
superintendent can sharpen her intelligence, stimulate her to 
undertake the right sort of reading, both general and profes- 
sional, raise her ideal of her profession, and cause her to know 
more fully the child and the laws of his growth, bodily, men- 
tally, morally, he will at the same time work improvement in 
his school. With these facts in mind, one can see the reason- 
ableness of such a sweeping statement as that made by the 
Committee of Twelve. " There is no other agency in our 
school system that has done so much for the improvement of 
our schools in organization, and in methods of instruction and 
discipline, as the superintendency." And again: "The 
most competent superintendents have the best schools, and the 
cities noted for their excellence in school work have attained 
this pre-eminence through the medium of intelligent super- 
vision." (93) 

The annual or semiannual visit of a county superinten- 
dent or school commissioner is scarcely to be styled super- 
vision, any more than the occasional visit of some large stock- 
holder to the seat of an industry in which he is interested is 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 53 

entitled to such rank. If a teacher's position and salary- 
depended upon the reports of such visits, they might be termed 
inspection, but never supervision, unless one is willing to 
court criticism for his use of terms. In England, our county 
superintendents would be called school inspectors, at least so 
far as their duties of school visitations are concerned ; and the 
professional welfare of the teachers would depend much more 
upon the character of the reports submitted by these ofl&cials 
than is the case with us. 

The present situation for rural school supervision may be 
judged from the conditions that obtain in one of our large and 
wealthy states. In some counties of Pennsylvania it is im- 
possible for the county superintendent to visit the schools 
oftener than once in two years. They are seldom lengthy 
visits, so that the relations set up between superintendent and 
teacher and pupil cannot be very intimate, life-giving, or in- 
spirational. There are in Pennsylvania 2,545 school districts, 
viz., cities, boroughs, and townships. Of these 66 are cities 
and boroughs with separate superintendents. This leaves 
2,479 townships. And there are only seven townships that 
have, according to the State Superintendent's printed list of 
superintendents, supervision other than that which can be 
given by the overtaxed county superintendent. (94) 

Dr. Andrew S. Draper, Commissioner of Education, New 
York, affirms that the first great need of the ten thousand 
rural schools of his state is that of closer supervision. This 
is needed even before grading and larger enrollments. He 
says : ' ' We all agree that very much of the life of the modern 
schools is in the supervision." (95) It appears from this ad- 
dress that there are 113 commissioners in the state, while it 
would require about 800 officers to provide adequate super- 
vision for these rural schools. Besides all this it must be ad- 
ded that many of these commissioners are not experienced 
teachers or school men. So far, therefore, as supervision is 
concerned, the 10,000 rural schools of the state of New York 
must be classed in the same category as the 12,000 rural 
schools of the state of Pennsylvania — they are practically with- 
out that degree of oversight which would anywhere in the in- 
dustrial world be termed superintendence. 



54 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

CHAPTER V. 

THB EURAIv SCHOOI, OF TO-DAY : AN INDUCTIVE STUDY 

The material used in this chapter is derived chiefly from 
the answers to the questions which are given below. These 
answers came mostly from county superintendents, and offi- 
cials of corresponding rank, although state superintendents 
sent data in some form or other to most of the questions. 
Often printed reports of more or less value, containing 
answers to some of the questions, were submitted. Question- 
aire material was received from 55 county superintendents in 
fifteen states. In addition to these a few replies were receiv- 
ed from supervisory officers of smaller districts than the 
county. Over 300 lists of questions were sent out. In the 
tables and discussion that follow 58 counties and smaller dis- 
tricts are represented. Out of some 40 lists sent to officials 
in the Southern states only five were answered, — one from 
Texas, and two each from Georgia and Florida. The highest 
percentage of returns were received from Pennsylvania and 
the North Central states. The explanation of this fact is not 
far to seek. The law of interest in persons is somewhat sim- 
ilar to the laws for light, heat, and sound intensities, which 
vary inversely as the square of the distance. In this case it 
is not greater interest, necessarily, in the problem as such. 

aUESTIONAIRE 

QUESTIONS ON THE RURAL SCHOOL 

Mr. J. C. HOCKENBERRY, 

State Normal School, California, Pennsylvania. 

1. To what extent do the rural schools of your state, county, or 
district have supervision ? 

2. What proportion of your rural teachers have had training in 
schools of higher grade than those in which they teach ? 

3. Give course of study generally pursued in the rural schools 
of your state, county, or district. Printed course of study is prefer- 
red if it exhibits exactly what is done by years and recitation hours. 

4. What is the method generally used in teaching (beginners) 
how to read in your rural schools ? 

5. What reading matter is used in your rural schools after the 
third school year ? Can you give in detail ? 

6. What work is done in your schools in literature, science, and 
art ? Can you outline in detail ? 

7. To what extent are libraries established in your rural schools? 
How secured, managed, etc.? 

8. Are there any school collections of minerals, grains, insects, 
etc.? How managed and used? 

9. What attention is paid to music, drawing, manual training, 
literary or debating societies ? 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 55 

10. What proportion of the rural schools of your county or dis- 
trict have a musical instrument ? what instrument? 

11. How many of your rural schools probably receive and study 
the weather map and report ? 

12. What has been done towards centralizing the rural schools 
of your county or district, with free transportation of school child- 
ren? 

13. Which has been the more potent agency in bringing about 
such changes, legislation or local initiative ? 

14. What uses are made of your rural school houses for such 
purposes as the Sunday-school, singing-school, Grange meetings, 
preaching, spelling-bees, lectures. Thanksgiving services, harvest- 
home meetings, neighborhood meetings, etc.? 

15. (a) What proportion of your rural schools are in painted 
houses, with window curtains, window plants, or pictures of value ? 
(b) What part of them have sodded grounds, with brick, stone, or 
gravel walks, flower-beds, banks of shrubbery or shade trees ? 

16. How many township high schools have resulted from cen- 
tralization of rural schools in your county or district ? 

17. What texts are used in these schools in arithmetic, gram- 
mar, spelling, history? Are these the choice of the teachers, 
probably ? 

18. How many parents' meetings were held last year in the 
rural schools of your county or district ? How largely attended ? 
Are parents generally interested ? 

19. (a) What are some of the strongest points in present day 
rural school work ? (b) What some of the weakest ? 

20. (a) How many rural schools represented m your report ? 
(b) How many school children thus represented ? 

If you cannot take time to answer all these questions, kindly 
answer such as seem to be of special interest or value, add any matter 
you like, not particularly mentioned, and forward the sheets to me at 
your earliest convenience. 



56 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 



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THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 57 



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3 

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Some 
Sadly deficient 

33 per cent. 
Most 

Few 
Few 

Some 

Very few 

Deficient 

None 


Few 

Many 
All 


o 
o 


All 

Sadly defi. 

Most 

All 

All 

50 per cent. 

Most 

All 

Most 

65 per cent. 

50 per cent. 

All 
90 per cent. 
80 per cent. 

Defic. 
20 per cent. 


<<< 


Q. S3. 

To what changes 

for improvement 

are due 


Loc. i. and leg. 

Loc. init. 
Loc. init. 

Legislation 
Legislation 

Loc. i. and leg. 

Loc. init. 
Legislation 


]d 
6 

s 


hop* 

.fl 

Si 


Likely none 
Few if any 

None 
Few if any 

Quite a no. 

None 

None 

5 per cent. 

Very few 

Not many 

Very few 

Very few 

Few 
3 schools 

None 

None 


None 
Very few 
Very few 


Q. 10. 

Schools having a 

Musical 

Instrument 


A few organ 
Likely none 
50 per cent. 
50 per cent. 

33 per ct. org. 

33 per ct. org. 

9 per ct. org. 

10 per ct. org. 
15 per ct. org. 
33 per ct. org. 

55 per cent. 
25 per cent. 
A few organ. 
Most organs 

A few organ. 

3 p. c. 5 p. c. 0. 

A few organ. 


2 per cent. 

25 per ct. org. 

None 

Very few 


Q. 4. 
Method of 
Teaching 
Keading 


W. and S. 
Don't know 
W. etc. 
W. and P. 
Pol. Ward 
Sallabic 
No One 
W. 
W. 

W. and S. 
W. and S. 
"Ward" 
W. 

W. and P. 
W. 
W. 

Mostly W. 
W. and S. 
W. and S. 


W. and S. 
W. and S. ; 


Q. 2. 
Per cent, of Teach- 
ers educated whol- 
ly in rural schools 


1 - S 

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58 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 



Colquitt . . . Ga. 
Newton . . . Ga. 
Champaign . 111. 
Ford, .... 111. 
McLean . . 111. 
Pope .... 111. 
Vermilion . 111. 
Delaware . Ind. 
Putnam . . Ind. 
Wayne . . Ind. 
Boone . . . Ind. 
Tippecanoe . Ind. 
Dubuque . . la. 
Hamilton . . .la. 
Clay . . . . Ky. 
Genesee . . Mich. 
Fillmore . Minn. 
Freeborn . Minn. 
Morrison . Minn. 
Polk . . . Minn. 
Salem . . N. J. 
Somerset . . N. J. 
Camden . . N. J. 
Hunterdon . N. J. 
Herk, IC.D. N. Y. 
Del., IC.D. N. Y. 
Steub. IC.D. N.Y. 
Buffalo . . . Neb. 
Gage .... Neb. 


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Parents' 
Meetings 

Held 


Poor 
Poor 

Fair 

Good 
Good 
Good 

None 

Good 

Sometimes 
Very good 

Good 


Q. 18 

Attendance at 

Parents' 

Meetings 


Little 
Little 

Little 

Good 
Good 

None 

Little 
Fair 

Fair 

Good 

Fair 

Fair 

Fair 


re re 


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No, of Rural 

Schools 
Represented 


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No. of Rural 

School 

Children 


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THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 59 



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Q. 20 

No. of Rural 

School 

Children 


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Q. 20 
No. of Rural 

Schools 
Represented 


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Fair 

Good 
Good 

Good 

Not Good 
Good 
Good 

Not Good 
Not Good 

Good 




Good 

Crowded 
Good 
Fair 
Good 


2 

-a 

P-i a> 


Several rallies 

In every school 

25 

Some 

80 per ct. schools 

Only institutes 

27 

6 

In most schools 

20 

none 

In most schools 

none 

none 

none 

none 

Few 

24 




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60 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

Notes explanatory of Table VI. The questions in the table 
are so numbered as to corresponding with the numbers in the 
list, " Q." standing for question. The reports from New York 
do not give data from the whole county, but from the commis- 
sioner district indicated by the characters i C, D., which 
means first commissioner district in the given county. The 
expressions in the column marked Q. 4 may require a word of 
explanation. W.-word method ; " Ward "-ward method, the 
method by Superintendent Ward ; S. -sentence method ; P- 
phonetic method. In column marked Q. i, C, S. -county sup- 
erintendent. The abbreviations rendered necessary by the 
exigencies of an over-filled table are supposed to be obvious. 

The answers in column marked Q. 13 are not so definite 
as they might be if more space were available for column 
headings. The question asks which is the more powerful 
agency in affecting such changes as are made to improve the 
rural school. Are they stimulated more by legislation of a 
mandatory character or by special appropriations, or by the 
public opinion of the neighborhood and the consequent local 
initative ? The tabular answers will be quite intelligible in the 
light of this word of explanation, although it is not claimed 
that the data represent anything more than the opinion of the 
officials making the returns. 

The nature of question 15 is such that it would require 
more than two columns properly to present the facts as they 
ought to be presented for a satisfactory study of the condition 
of the rural school building and its grounds. About all that 
the two columns devoted to this item can be expected to do is 
to establish how general is a certain type of rural schoolhouse 
and of school grounds. The data point to a condition ; they 
are not supposed to represent very precise figures. 

The intention of question 18, third column, is to ascertain 
the interest parents take in parents' meetings when they are 
held. It would be impossible to determine how generally the 
same interpretation was put upon it by the correspondents. 
But the most marked discrepancies occur in the answers to 
question 20, both parts. E.g., Colquitt Co., Ga , reports 3318 
rural school children in 35 rural schools; while Champaign Co. 
111. , reports 3200 children in 208 rural schools, and Pope Co. , 
111. , 6000 children in 66 rural schools. This means either that 
the enrollment per school in the first county is 96, and that in 
the two Illinois counties it is 15 and 91 respectively, or that 
there is a discrepancy in the answers. County superintend- 
ents are more likely to know at a glance how many rural 
schools there are in their respective counties than how many 
children there are in these same rural schools. Almost none 
of the state school reports which I have examined give the 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 61 

rural school enrollmentas distinct from that of the whole county. 
If this theory be accepted it explains the difl&culty, at least for 
a number of cases. But the fact still remains that the rural 
school enrollment varies greatly in different parts of the coun- 
try, and even in different parts of the same state. The slight- 
est suspicion of a discrepancy in the answers makes the figures 
of less value than if these represented exact facts and condi- 
tions. In the case of the counties of Pennsylvania the reports 
may be taken as exact, having been calculated carefully from 
the State Superintendent's Report from the several counties 
represented in the table, although no rigid classification of 
schools into rural and urban, or into graded and ungraded, is 
attempted in the Pennsylvania School Report. By counting 
all the schools having more than one teacher as graded, the sum 
of children enrolled in all other schools gives the numbers re- 
ported in the columns for these counties. Greater definiteness 
in these respects would render the state reports far more valu- 
able for the exact study of school conditions in the different 
kinds of schools. 

Questionaire material not easy to present in tabular form 
will be given in the exact language of the correspondent as far 
as practicable. This material comprises the answers to ques- 
tions 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 17 and 19, or half the entire list. 

Question 3. Give course of study generally pursued in the 
rural schools of your county or district. Printed course is prefer- 
red if it exhibits exactly what is done by years and recitation 
hours. The answers to this question may well be prefaced 
with a table to show what the several states recommend or re- 
quire in all schools in addition to the Three R's. 



62 



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THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 63 

This table will serve only for an introductory glance, and 
the courses authorized or required in the several states will 
have to be taken up in order. Some additional data from 
counties will follow. The plus sign -fshows that the subject is 
mentioned or required. 

Georgia. The state school report outlines the work re- 
quired in the common schools, stating what text-books are 
used throughout the state, and the exact number of pages to 
be covered each year. The uniform text-book law requires 
that books shall be used at least five years. Some optional 
work is recommended, and a little work is suggested in civics 
and agriculture. In agriculture these topics are suggested : 
Soils, rocks, minerals, germination of seeds, varieties and 
growth of trees ; habits and treatment of animals ; fruit trees , 
budding, grafting ; insects of field, orchard, and garden ; 
pupils should present models and drawings of farm imple- 
ments. For the work in the sixth grade a regular text is 
named, while for that of the seventh grade it is planned that 
experiments in physics and chemistry shall be made with the 
students, these experiments having as far as possible a bear- 
ing upon agriculture. (96) 

Illinois. It is planned that music, drawing, morals and 
manners shall be taught in the first and second grades under 
the heading, " general exercises." In the next six school 
years the general exercises comprise music, drawing, morals 
and manners, agriculture, and household arts. Geography is 
added in the fourth year, and history in the sixth ; grammar 
in the seventh, and civics in the eighth. In vocal music two 
or three songs are learned by rote each month and sung to a 
musical accompaniment where there is an instrument. It is 
taken for granted that ' ' all teachers do something in music. ' ' 
The course in drawing is thorough, definite, objective, and 
need not be further discussed. Under the head of morals and 
manners very definite work is contemplated. Such topics as 
courage, humility self-respect, self-control, prudence, good 
name, good manners, health, temperance, evil habits, bad 
language, evil speaking, industry, economy, patriotism and 
civil duties are discussed, outlined, and applied to the prob- 
lems of daily life. Each topic of the list gives rise to about 
ten subtopics. E.g., Civil Duties. — i. They are a division 
of social duties. 2. Government is necessary. 3. It re- 
quires law. 4. A good citizen obeys the law. 5. He tries 
to have good laws. He aids the enforcement of law. 7. Fi- 
delity in ofi&ce — bribery. 8. Honor in taking oath— perjury. 

9. Duty involved in the ballot — buying and selling votes. 

10. Dignity and honor of citizenship, etc. 



64 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

As an illustration of the work in agriculture the sugges- 
tions for the eighth month ot the sixth school year may be 
chosen, i. Test the vitality of the corn saved for planting, 
2, Start the bean and make careful observations of it for five 
days. How many toes has a chicken? a dog? a horse? a pig? 
a sheep ? 4. Will pigs eat haj ? meat ? ashes ? Write the 
biography of some successful stock breeder or feeder in your 
neighborhood. 6. Which will eat more in proportion to its 
weight, a hog or a horse ? Which will gain more in propor- 
tion to the feed eaten, a young hog or an older one? Try it. 
7. What fruits and vegetables are grown in glass houses for 
market ? 8. Collect seed corn from at least two farms. . . . 
Plant on moistened sand between two plates ; keep warm and 
moist, and after seven days count the number of sprouted 
grains, and calculate the percentage of germination. Plant a 
few grains in balls of cotton kept in a glass of water. Watch 
growth of roots. 9. Read ly. H. Bailey's Plant Breeding. 
10. Take an inventory of live stock, its kind, number, and 
value on the largest farm of the school district and on the one 
which you live. Some interesting definitions are given in this 
connection. Vitality — the power to grow ; plantlet — a very 
young plant ; cotyledons — the first leaf or pair of leaves ; stock — 
horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, or other large animals kept on the 
farm ; biography — the story of a person's life ; corn — in America 
the maize, or Indian corn ; in England, any grain, or crop ; 
greenhouse — a glass house in which flowers or vegetables are 
grown ; fruit — to the botanist, any seed ; to the horticultural- 
ist, the eatable portion that surrounds the seed. 

In household arts, or domestic economy, suggestive topics 
are mentioned in the course of study, such as sewing^ the kinds 
of stitches ; water, sources and kinds, waste of soap in hard 
water, effect of ammonia or soda in water, use for personal 
cleanliness and for laundering, for cooking to soften cell walls 
of vegetables, and for drinking purposes. What kind is safe 
for drinking ? Air, composition and properties. Uses of 
thermometer and barometer. Give illustration with such ap- 
paratus as is at hand. Food — What is food ? Show classes of 
food principles in milk, as cream-fat, sugar of milk, and pro- 
tein. The gluten of flour and wheat. Lean meat is protein. 
Cooking should aid digestion, without which food can not 
build up the tissues of the body. Vegetables — different parts 
of plants used as foods. Seeds, peas, beans ; roots, carrots, 
turnips ; bulbs : onions ; tubers : potatoes ; shoots : asparagus ; 
stalks : celery, rhubarb ; leaves : cabbage, lettuce ; flowers : 
cauliflower ; fruit : cucumber, tomato. Value of vegetables 
and fruits in the diet to add certain acids and animal matters 
to the foods. Bread. The history of bread making, thorough 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 65 

mixing, kneading, raising, baking. Have children bake small 
loaves and bring to school. Meats. Kinds of animals supply- 
ing meats ; names of meats, names and character of different 
cuts; cost and food values of different kinds and cuts of 
meats, (97) 

Kansas. Several subjects are to be taught only inciden- 
tally, as calisthenics, music, drawing, current events, and 
ethics. These are to be taught in connection with the open- 
ing, or general exercises, and it is provided that not over 
fifteen minutes are to be taken for all these exercises each day. 
It is recommended that music shall be taught once a week in 
connection with the opening exercises, and that the teacher 
shall encourage the pupils to draw, and set a good example 
herself. No concrete material is suggested for the work of 
ethics. (98) 

Michigan. The authorized course of study for this state 
gives valuable suggestions on the teaching of morals and man- 
ners, calisthenics, and memory gems. "Good manners prop- 
erly taught the child react upon his heart and produce a gen- 
uine desire to give others no discomfort." An excellent out- 
line suggests what one's conduct should beat school, at home, ' 
at the table, another's home, at church, at entertainments, at 
the store, on the street, and in traveling. Under calisthenics 
are indicated breathing, development, relaxing, foot, swing- 
ing, bending, and movement exercises of an entirely practical 
nature in the hands of any teacher of average intelligence and 
preparation. The memory gems are not a mixed jumble, but 
are so chosen and arranged as to throw light upon subjects of 
the greatest value to the student. The subjects are books, 
education, habits, perseverence, kindness, honesty, bravery^ 
friendship, patriotism, miscellaneous, for the little ones. (99) 
Ohio and Pennsylvania. These states give no directions 
on the course of study for the common schools other than the 
brief statement in the school law which names the * ' branches ' ' 
of study that must be taught in all schools. 

South Carolina. Music, drawing, and civics are mention- 
ed as a part of the course. Music is to be given in connection 
with the opening exercises. Civics is taught only in the sixth 
grade. Drawing is avowedly a new study, but is claimed to 
be of great importance. Teachers should encourage the child- 
ren, and do the best they can, even if they know little about 
the subject themselves. As an entering wedge for the later 
introduction of systematic work in manual training it is sug- 
gested that teachers should have the smaller children cut and 
fold paper so as to learn the simpler geometrical figures, and 
other simple forms, (too) 



66 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

Wesi Virginia. The only subjects in addition to the 
usual common school subjects are book-keeping for the ninth 
grade, civics for the eighth grade, and moral training which 
is provided for incidentally. These virtues should be exem- 
plified and established in the lives of the children, and their 
corresponding vices corrected by building up inhibiting ten- 
dencies and habits. 

VIRTUES. VICES 

Honesty Dishonesty 

Truthfulness Falsity 

Diligence Idleness 

Politeness Rudeness 

Regularity Irregularity 

Obedience Disobedience 

Purity Obscenity 

Respect Disrespect 

Self-control Lawlessness 

Reverence, Profanity 

Neatness Disorder 

Candor Deceit 

Nature study and observation are marked for the first 
three years, until the sciences of geography and physiology 
are introduced. A tentative course in agriculture is suggest- 
ed, and it is identical with that subject as outlined for the 
state of Illinois. (loi) 

Further data and comment from school ofl&cials. 

Fillmore Co. , Minn. ' ' The rural schools as they now are 
need no course of study. A competent teacher needs no 
course of study for these little schools and an incompetent one 
could not use one if she had it. ' ' 

Polk Co,, Minn. " All the common English branches are 
taught in our rural schools. ' ' The counties of Buffalo^ Go-ge, 
and Otoe, Nebraska, use the Illinois course of study. 

Athens Co., O. " Have no data." 

Bucks, Greene, and Lebanon counties, Pa. , have separate 
printed courses. 

Beaver, Venango, and Westmoreland cowaXiQS, Pa., report 
' ' no course. ' ' 

Columbia Co., Pa., follows the Illinois course "strictly." 

Lycoming Co. , Pa. , has a course in preparation. 

Juniata and Somerset counties, Pa., use the Berkey course. 
Washington Co. , Pa. , " we have a course of study, but it 
is difficult to get the teachers to follow it." 

Question 5. What reading matter is used in your rural 
schools after the third school year 9 Can you answer in detail f 

In Georgia a fourth and a fifth reader are used in these 
grades followed by a text on state history and then one on 
civil government. In all these grades supplementary reading 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 67 

is " optional." (96) In Illinois it is provided that prescribed 
third, fourth, and fifth readers shall be used in the fourth, 
fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth school years. As much 
" additional reading " as can be brought into " alliance " with 
other subjects to enlarge and enrich them, is recommended. 
This can be done in such studies as history, geography, liter- 
ature, and science. Some of this material for the fourth year 
is : Hiawatha, Arabian Nights, Alice in Wonderland, Wonder- 
book, Water Babies. In the fifth year : L^egend of Sleepy 
Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, Voyage to lyilliput, King of the 
Golden River, Tanglewood Tales, Pilgrim's Progress, A Dog 
of Flanders. In the sixth year : Snow-Bound, Miles Stand- 
ish, Story of the Iliad, McMurry's William Tell, I^aysof 
Ancient Rome, Robinson Crusoe. In the seventh year : Soh- 
rab and Rustum, I^ady of the Lake, Stories of King Arthur's 
Court, Evangeline, Birds and Bees, Tales from Shakespeare, 
The Story of the Aeneid, In the eighth year : Vision of Sir 
Launfal, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Fortune of the Re- 
public, Ivanhoe, Burke's American Orations, Julius Caesar 
and the Merchant of Venice, the Bunker Hill Orations. (97) 

In Iowa readers are to be used as in the case of Illinois. 
It is suggested that from fifteen to eighteen pages of matter 
be read each month in the fourth year ; from 20 to 25 pages, 
each month in the fifth year ; about 25 pages per month in 
the sixth year. In the seventh year there is a tendency to 
place greater emphasis upon classics at the expense of the 
reader. Hitherto supplementary reading is urged but not 
outlined. Evangeline, Miles Standish, Sella, Rab and his 
Friends, Peasant and Prince, and the Vision of Sir Launfal 
are suggested for reading in the seventh year. The fifth 
reader is continued into the eighth school year and English 
and American classics are added, but what ones are not speci- 
fied. It is presumable that the eighth grade has the same 
reading as the seventh, for these two grades are to recite to- 
gether. This plan would involve the choice of new material 
each year or an uninteresting repetition in the eighth year of 
all the reading matter studied in the seventh. (102) 

In Kansas the work in reading follows the reader plan 
very strictly. Appleton's Readers are used, and the work is 
planned out definitely by pages and months. Schools having 
an eight-months term are to use Hiawatha. In the seventh 
month of the fifth year the Miraculous Pitcher is to be read. 
In the third month of the seventh year The Great Stone Face 
is to be gotten from the school library and read. (103) 
Michigan continues the use of readers through the entire 
eight grades. The ' ' systematic study of classics may now be 
commenced" — in the sixth year. These classics, while not 



68 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

the same as those named in the Illinois course of study, are of 
the same character, and need not be given here. The study 
of classics should increase towards the eighth grade and the 
work in the reader should decrease. (104) \r\ New York the 
reader plan is followed except that in the seventh year ' 'choice 
selections from standard authors ' ' may be substituted for the 
fifth reader. Classic literature is read in the eighth year. In 
the fourth, fifth, and sixth years supplementary, or much sup- 
plementary reading is a part of the scheduled work in read- 
ing, but no specified suggestions are made as to what the 
selections or classics shall be. (105) Soul/i Carolma iollows the 
reader plan, but adds supplementary matter. In the fourth 
year, Grimme's Household Tales, Wonder Book, Scudder's 
Book of lyCgends. In the fifth year. King of the Golden 
River, Selections from I^ongfellow, Arabian Nights. In the 
sixth year, Rab and his Friends, Christmas Carol by Dickens, 
Robinson Crusoe, Hiawatha. In the seventh year, Sleepy 
Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, Tales from Shakespeare, Evange- 
line, Silas Marner. In the eighth year. Selections from Holmes, 
Knoch Arden, Merchant of Venice. It should be noted 
that many of these are ccndensations or otherwise incomplete 
editions of the works mentioned, particularly the longer 
works, as most of them are chosen from the Maynard Series 
or the Riverside Series. (100) 

Wesi Virginia follows the reader plan, making a good 
deal of the biographies of the authors whose writings are re- 
presented in the selections contained in the readers. The sug- 
gestion is made that in the eighth year ' ' shorter classics, 
such as Scott's L,ady of the I^ake should be employed more 
generally." " Develop taste for good literature and literary 
taste." (loi) In Wisconsin the reader plan is in vogue al- 
though the superior value of literary wholes, or classics, is 
pointed out in outlining the reading work for the seventh, 
eighth, and ninth school years. No specific directions are 
given as to what classics should be read. (106) In Clay Co., 
Ky., and the eastern counties generally, "text-books only 
are used." In Salem Co., N. J,, supplementary readers are 
used. In Somerset Co., N.J,, "little more than the ordi- 
nary readers are used, I am sorry to say." In Camden Co., 
N. J., a committee of teachers working with the county 
superintendent has outlined a course in reading which in- 
cludes whole classics as well as the usual readers. But it is a 
change which can not be made at once, for besides the con- 
servatism of the teachers, there is some difficulty encountered 
in inducing the district boards to make the appropriation 
necessary to secure the classics. Gage Co. , Neb. , uses almost 
any of the standard readers. In Beaver and Juniata counties. 



m\ 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 69 

Pa., " very little reading matter is used beyond the reading 
texts. ' ' In Bucks Co. , Pa. , supplementary readers along the 
lines of nature, literature, and history" are used. "The 
supply of supplementary matter depends upon the liberality 
of the school board." In Columbia Co., Pa., Snow-Bound, 
Sketch Book, Evangeline, Hayne's Speech, and Webster's 
Reply are mentioned for such work. In Lebanon Co., Pa., 
classics are read in the upper grades only. In Lycoming Co., 
Pa., " most schools use readers only. A few use such clas- 
sics as Evangeline and Enoch Arden in the upper grades." 
Washington Co., Pa., reports — "the only source of supple- 
mentary reading is probably the small school library to be 
found in most of the rural schools. ' ' Crawford Co. , Wis. , 
writes — "chiefly some standard reader." Eau Claire Co., 
Wis., writes — " one set of standard readers and some supple- 
mentary reading when one can get it, in English classics." 
Waukesha Co., Wis., plans that Snow-Bound, Evangeline, 
Eugene Field's Poems, Miles Standish, Enoch Arden, and 
many other classics shall be read. 



70 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 
CHAPTER VI. 

THE RURAL SCHOOL OF TODAY AN INDUCTIVB STUDY 

(Continued.) 

Question 6. What work is done in your schools in litera- 
ture, science, and art 9 This question is partially answered in 
connection with question 5, and also in Table VII, under the 
heading of "supplementary reading," and " art, " respective- 
ly. See also the item "drawing" in the table referred to. 
I/ittle else can be gotten out of the answers to the list of 
questions that were sent out in so far as these questions refer 
to the subject of literature, properly so named. But there is 
one set of returns that contained such a systematic plan for 
memory work in literature that it may be brought into the 
study more properly at this point than at any other. As the 
plan provides for more than memory work, and is even termed 
"literature" in the course of study, I shall be warranted in 
giving it in some detail. It is quite an elaborate plan and has 
involved some pains to work it out. It is divided into reading 
to the children, reading by the children, and committing to 
memory certain short poems and prose selections. Not a day 
is to pass without the recital of some piece committed to mem- 
ory. No day is without attention to the learning of some new 
piece. It is worth while to give the names of these memory 
selections in full. For the first year they are : Mary's Lamb, 
Watt's Busy Bee, Taylor's Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, 
Tennyson's Little Birdie, Keble's All Things Bright and 
Beautiful, Stevenson's Land of Nod, Miller's The Bluebird, 
Blake's The Lamb, America, by Smith, Longfellow's Snow- 
flakes (selections), Shakespeare's Ariel's Song, Field's Little 
Boy Blue, Coleridge's Answer to a Child's Question. For the 
second year the list runs ; Tennyson's Sweet and Low, 
Stevenson's Where Go the Boats, Blake's Piper and Child, 
Field's Japanese Lullaby, Longfellow's Gently Swinging to and 
Fro, Ingelow's Seven Times One are Seven, Thaxter's Spring, 
Longfellow's Daybreak, Lowell's The Fountain, Browning's 
A Child's Thought of God, Shakespeare's Over Hill, Over 
Dale. In the third year : Houghton's Lady Moon, Tenny- 
son's Bugle Song, Longfellows Arrow and the Song, Lowell's 
The First Snowfall, Hood's I Remember, Field's Dutch Lullaby, 
Tennyson's Flower in the Crannied Wall, Whittier's Barefoot 
Boy, Emerson's Mountain and the Squirrel, Shakespeare's 
Hark ! Hark ! The Lark. This is as far as the ungraded 
work goes in this school district, but this memory work is 
outlined for the whole remaining nine grades of the public 
school course in precisely the same definite, exact way. The 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 71 

selections are as well chosen as those which are given above 
for the first three grades. They increase in difficulty and may 
increase in length. The teachers are held responsible for re- 
viewing in each grade the selections previously committed. 
This gives an increasing quantity of the best literature to draw 
upon and use for the enrichment of every phase of school 
work. The average number learned each year is ten, so that 
the entire course would represent 120 choice selections thor- 
oughly learned and held at instant command. This is not 
idealistic, but practical, as every one familiar with the laws 
and span of memory well knows. (107) 



72 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 



Colquitt . . . Ga. 
Newton . . . Ga. 
Champaign 111. 

Ford 111. 

LcLean . . . 111. 

Pope 111. 

Vermillion . . 111. 
Winnebago . 111. 
Boone . . . Ind. 
Delaware . . Ind. 
Putnam . . . Ind 
Tippecanoe . Ind 
Wayne . . . Ind. 
Dubuque . . .la. 
Hamilton . . la 
Clay . . . . Ky 
Genesee . . Mich. 
Fillmore . Minn. 
Freeborn . Minn. 
Morrison . Minn 
Polk . . . Minn 
Camden . . N.J 
Hunterdon . N.J 
Salem ... N.J. 
Somerset . . N.J. 
Dela. IC.D., N.Y. 
Herk.lC. D.,N.Y. 
Steuben IC.D. NY. 
Buffalo . . . Neb. 
Gage .... Neb. 


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Some books in eve 

127 

135 

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73 

150 

100 

59 

152 

39 

76 

37 

142 

89 

■ 87 

58 

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78 

220 

Nearly all 

162 

107 

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State and local aid 

State and local aid 

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Local and state funds 

Local and state funds 

State and local funds 

Local and state funds 

Local aided by state 

Local aided by state 

Local aided by state 

Local aided by state 

Local aided by state 

School and state 

School and state 

District 
Entertainments 


School boards 

Entertainments, suppers 

Entertainments 

Entertainments 

Teachers and pupils 

Socials, entertainments 

Schl. bds. entrmts. etc. 

Schl. bds. entrmts. etc. 


II 

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Under boards 

Under boards 

Teacher 

Teacher 

Teacher 

Librarian 

Teacher 

Teach 'r&board 

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Teachers 
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THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 73 






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74 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

In Illinois there are 11751 school districts, and all but 3178 
have libraries. They are secured in part by the directors from 
school funds, and in part by school entertainments. In 
Georgia there are no public school libraries in school districts 
not under local school laws, viz ; In county schools, with 
nearly 51000 volumes valued at over ^32000. "We have no 
public school funds for libraries. They are secured by do- 
nations," Kansas x^-^oxts that "there is generally a small 
library in these schools." The school law provides that 
school districts may vote a library tax of Yt, mill to 2 mills 
on the dollar, depending upon the assessed valuation of the dis- 
trict. This permissive law has been in vogue since 1 876. There 
is also a traveling libraries law in this state, dating from 1899, 
and providing for the establishment of a traveling libraries 
commission. According to the regulations adopted by this 
responsible commission it is possible for any local library, 
school district, reading club, literary society or similar organic 
zation upon the payment of a fee of two dollars to obtain the 
loan of a traveling library of 50 books upon lines specified. 
This lot of books may be retained for use six months, or 
longer upon payment of a renewal fee of 25 cent. The lot 
may be returned and another gotten as often as is desired 
upon payment of an additional fee of two dollars to defray 
charges for transmission to and from the centre. In the sec- 
ond biennial report of the Commission it is claimed that 
the traveling library is no longer an experiment, but 
an established, growing instituion of the state. It 
is managed very economically. The appropriation of $1000 
per year at first was soon increased to $4000 by a later legis- 
lature. At the end of 1902, the Commission had on hands 
216 cases, and had in different parts of the state, 183 lots of 
50 books each, and had over loooo books for use in its de- 
partment. The total circulation of the traveling libraries was 
calculated to be 51900 in two years on the supposition that 
each case has 30 regular readers. The lots had been sent to 94 
counties, as many as eight having been sent to the same 
locality. (108) 

South Carolina. "About 400 have been established in the 
past six months." The law providing that when the friends 
and patrons of a free public school shall have raised ten dollars 
by subscription for a school library, the state and the county 
shall each furnish a like amount, to be spent in the purchase of 
books for such a library, was passed in 1904. As not more 
than twelve schools in any one county can secure this aid in 
one year, it is to be concluded that general interest is manifest 
in the establishment of these small school libraries in this 
state. A local company is under bond to furnish the books 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 75 

for such libraries at publicly printed prices, so as to avoid all 
deception and extortion. The list of books recommended by 
the state board is mainly of the standard type and comprises 
some 200 volumes. These libraries are under the control of 
local school boards who must observe directions and regulations 
furnished by the state board of education. (109) 

West Virginia reports that ' ' there are in the public 
school libraries of the state a total of 38189 volumes — an 
average of but one book for every nine children of school age. 
As the great proportion of these books is stored in the librar- 
ies of towns and cities, it is plain that the mass of rural school 
pupils are absolutely without a book to read outside of the 
scanty supply of necessary text-books. And when it is re- 
membered that the vast majority of the pupils * * * * are not 
only without libraries in school, but absolutely out of reach of 
libraries of any kind, and even out of reach of book stores or 
news agencies, the seriousness of the situation becomes ap- 
parent." (no) 

Michigan reports that 4,000 out of the 7,000 school dis- 
tricts maintain libraries. 

Some of the states have laws giving encouragement to 
the school library. New Jersey has a law providing that to 
every school raising $10 for this purpose the state shall give 
f20 when the library is founded and $10 each year thereafter 
in support of the library if a like amount is raised by the 
school, (in) The method generally pursued is to get up an 
entertainment. If all or a part of this money should be used 
for the purpose of scientific apparatus the state makes no ob- 
jections. The widest freedom is allowed in the selection of 
the books for the library, A list is printed by the state 
board, but many books are bought that are not named in this 
list. The general result of such a law may be easily seen in 
the statistics of Table VIII, where it appears that from 75 to 90 
percent. , and above, of the rural schools of this state have 
established school libraries. Other states having good school 
library laws have already been named. 

Question 8. Are there any school collections of minerals, 
grains, insects, etc. ? How managed and nsed ? As the build- 
ing up of such collections by the plan of co-operation between 
teacher, pupil, and parent is so valuable in arousing interest 
in the ordinary school work, in reducing to a minimum the 
difficulties of discipline, in arousing and fostering motor 
activities in all the members of the school, the prevalence of 
such collections should be investigated as one of the criteria 
of the rural school. The results of this study will not be so 
encouraging as were those concerning the use of supplemen- 
tary reading and rural school libraries. 



76 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

Of the 55 counties in fourteen states from which answers 
were received sixteen report no collections, 27 counties report 
collections in a few schools, six contain no data, five report 
collections in few if any, while one reports that in 40 percent, 
of the rural schools collections are found. A few of the more 
significant answers may be given. 

' ' A few have collections of grains and insects. Managed 
by the teacher and used in connection with geography. ' ' 
' ' Here and there * * ^ * as the teacher may have interest. ' ' 
"Not many." "Depends upon teacher. Used as subjects 
of compositions." " A few. Collected and cared for by 
teacher and pupils. Explained and talked about in general 
exercises. " " In a few of the schools there are fine collections 
well displayed and generally used. " "A few made by inter- 
ested teachers and their pupils. ' ' One county reports that a 
few of the schools had secured the loan of some state muse- 
ums of this character through voluntary local effort of pupils 
and teacher. 

Question p. What attention is paid to drawing, micsic, 
manual training, literary or debating societies f Table VII ex- 
hibits what the state contemplates in the authorized course of 
study so far as drawing, vocal music, and manual training 
are concerned. It remains to state to what extent literary or 
debating societies are held in the public schools. Some of the 
characteristic replies from state departments are : ' ' Increase 
in each of these, but room for great improvement." "No 
data "— on these points in a state having nearly 30,000 teach- 
ers. " Not so much as should be ; only in towns and cities." 
The answers from the counties may be given thus : 

Number of counties reporting on the question 56 

" Do not have either, " 23 

" Have very few." 9 

" Have practically none, " 4 

"Have both generally," 3 

" Have only in high schools," 3 

"Have several literary societies," 2 

Dodged the question, 2 

" Many have literary societies, " 1 

" Depends upon the teacher," 1 

" A half dozen literary societies in the county, 1 

" In twenty districts," 1 

" A number have debating societies," I 

"Some townships have literary and debating societies," .... 1 
" All have literary ; not so many have debating societies," . . 1 

"A good many," ■ • •. ^ 

" Very few except where normal trained teachers are in 

charge," 1 

Corresponding data might be given from the townships 
that have furnished answers, but these data would not change 
the proportions. If one were willing to hazard a mere estimate 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 77 

he would say that probably ten per cent, of the rural schools 
of our more progressive states have literary and debating soc- 
ieties. This is given only as an estimate, and the purpose is 
only to call attention s harply to a condition of affairs which is 
altogether too common in these schools. 

Questions lo an d ii on the use of a musical instrument 
and the weather map and report, respectively, may be passed 
over very briefly. As a great painter in planning a master 
piece uses a number of relatively simple and unimportant ele- 
ments and mo tives that he may enchance the impression that 
he seeks to make, so must the student of a school system take 
into account many elements and features of that system, no 
matter how unimportant they may seem to the layman, for 
the final evaluation of that school system. The rural school 
is no exception to this rule. Any proper evaluation of it as an 
institution will require that many features be taken into con- 
sideration. This study is based upon a very large number of 
these seemingly unimportant, but really very significant, feat- 
ures. Their importance is evident if they are taken in their 
broad connections, and as indicating just what the children do 
in a day, or in any other given time, in the school or in 
preparation for school. The facts are to be gathered from the 
proper item in table VI. 

Questioji 12. What has been done towards centralizing the 
rural schools of your county or district^ with free transportation of 
children f And Supplementary Questionaire. So far as Table 
VI is able to do so it gives the facts received in response to the 
first questionaire. Table IX gives the facts contained in the 
answers to the supplementary questionaire. This question- 
aire was sent out only to state superintendents. Answers 
were received from 37 of the states. The items upon which 
it was sought to gain information in this latter list will be in- 
dicated at once. " i. Have you a state law encouraging the 
consolidation of rural schools and permitting the transporta- 
tion of pupils at public expense? 2. To what extent has con- 
solidation with free transportation been adopted among the 
rural schools of your state? 3. In what ways is consolida- 
tion encouraged, if at all? 4. Is consolidation generally re- 
garded as a success? 5. Which is the more powerful means 
of improving the rural schools, state encouragement in the 
form of special appropriation, or agitation and local initiative?" 



78 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 









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THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 79 

The answers^^to the question concerning the existence of a 
law encouraging consolidation and permitting transportation 
at public expense make it entirely clear that there is a wide- 
spread sentiment in favor of consolidation as a means of im- 
proving the rural schools in parts of the country adapted at all 
thereto. The only conditions named anywhere were that 
there should be good roads and a population not so sparse as 
to offer the barrier of distances that are too great to cover in a 
reasonably short time. In Georgia, in spite of her having no law 
giving encouragement to the plan, there are 15 to 20 counties 
now trying consolidation with great success ; also six to 
eight counties are trying free transportation. The county 
boards of education have great power in this state, and seem 
to be willing to take some risk in experimenting with new 
things. The Indiana law provides for the abandonment of 
schools having an average daily attendance of twelve pupils, 
or fewer. According to the general law, trustees are required 
to furnish equal educational privileges to all children in the 
townships ; thus trustees are morally obligated to transport 
children elsewhere. Iowa has a law providing for the levy of 
an additional tax for the transportation of pupils where it is 
necessary. 

Sometimes legislation anticipates any wide-spread senti- 
ment in favor of consolidation, as in Maryland ^\\.^rQ. only a few 
schools have really consolidated. Again both consolidation 
and free transportation may become operative in the more pro- 
gressive states, and parts of states, before the law specifically 
provides for such methods of school administration, as in 
Indiana. The New Hampshire law provides that, not over 25 
per cent, of the school moneys shall be used for transportation. 
In West Virginia there is a rapidly growing interest in the 
problem, and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction 
hopes at the next meeting of the legislature to secure the enact- 
ment of a law authorizing both consolidation and free trans- 
portation. In the State of Wyoming, although there is no 
law on the matter, several districts, supported in their efforts 
at school improvement by the State Superintendent's broad in- 
terpretation of the existing law, are going ahead with consoli- 
dation and transportation, and are meeting with great success. 
On the point raised in question two of the latter list, it 
may be observed that only a small percentage of the entire 
number of rural school districts have been consolidated ; but 
on the other hand the reports of success when the plan is 
tried, put it beyond all reasonable doubt that the experimental 
stage is passed, and that the next would seem to be to make 
the plan as generally operative as the conditions of roads and 
density of population will warrant. 



80 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

The data on the point raised in question 3 bears upon the 
manner and method of encouragement given to the movement 
for consolidation of rural school districts with free transpor- 
tation of pupils. The answers received on this point are of 
the greatest interest, for this knowledge makes it possible to 
predict with a reasonable degree of certainty what will be the 
condition of rural education in the several states until the 
attitude of the educational leader is changed. In general 
there are three fairly well marked attitudes to be found in the 
educational departments of the several states. The first 
attitude is that which, working through the legislature, 
secures state aid for the plan in the form of a special appro- 
priation to encourage consolidation and free transportation. 
Oreg07i appropriates $50 extra for three years to each district 
that consolidates. In Rhode Island and California districts 
thus uniting do not receive extra allowance from the treasury, 
but may continue to draw as much money as though not 
consolidated. This is virtually legislation favorable to the 
plan of consolidation. In South Carolina districts appropriat- 
ing $100 for the purpose of such a change receive $50 from 
the state, and so on in this proportion until the state's amount 
is $300, the maximum amount thus appropriated to any con- 
solidated district. This law is locally expected powerfully to 
stimulate consolidation as the plan proves its value in the dis- 
tricts where it has been adopted and tried. The state of 
Washingto7i allows consolidated districts " 2000 additional at- 
tendance," which amounts to about $180 a year additional to 
regular apportionments. 

The second attitude is that of discussion, and spreading 
the news of its advantages and benefits and latest adoptions 
in other parts of the country or the same state. This is done 
in a number of the states. The superintendents of public in- 
struction in Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Indi- 
ana have issued valuable studies in this subject, and have sent 
these in the originals or in reprints all over their respective 
states. The result is a rapid increase of sentiment in favor of 
the movement in many parts of these states. Other states 
have doubtless done as much, but the results of such studies 
and such effort have not come to my notice. The department 
of education in Georgia urges it upon the best communities. 
"They take pride in doing something progressive." Indiana 
reports that the state superintendent, county superintendents, 
and leading teachers in the various counties co-operate in a 
generous rivalry to see which can do most to further the plan 
of consolidation with free transportation of pupils. Oregon 
encourages it by discussion. Missouri reports that the state 
and the county superintendents generally encourage the move- 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 81 

ment. The department in Vermont is active in holding meet- 
ings and sending out circulars and letters encouraging the 
movement for consolidation. 

But there is another attitude that must be recorded, — the 
attitude of indifference on account of (a) moral or intellectual 
inertia, or (b) ignorance of the real needs of the country 
schools and of the virtues of the plan of consolidation and free 
transportation. Fortunately this is not in evidence in many 
of our departments, but it is manifest in some of the older 
states where the needs are great and v/here without the adopt- 
ion of consolidation no plan seems to promise much for the 
early improvement of the rural school. It seems a little too 
much to ask the people of a state to enlighten and convert the 
heads of its educational departments ; on the contrary, it is the 
general view in America that the enlightening ray and the con- 
verting unction should move in the opposite direction. 

Onl}^ a few words need be said in regard to the answers 
to the fourth point raised in the list, viz., as to whether con- 
solidation and free transportation are regarded as a success. 
Most of the answers indicate that it is an unqualified success. 
(See Table IX). These men all observe its working within 
their own states and express no theoretical opinion, but a 
practical judgment : As a plan to iviprove the rural school it is a 
success. It has not been found ' ' wanting ' ' in any serious 
points. Others answer on purely theoretical grounds. They 
have not tried it. They have seen it in operation in other 
states. Almost all of these men regard it as a good theory, a 
good plan to work towards. But these men have no practical 
knowledge, not even second-hand, viz., from the men who are 
making it a success. The answers from such sources are ot 
little value. There is another class of men, cautious, safely 
conservative, who have seen it tried in small areas, have watch- 
ed and studied it honestly, and give it credit for all its good 
points. They recognize in it one of the various plans which 
must be followed out in the hope of improving the rural school. 
These men are sensible of the drawbacks ; of the close calcu- 
lations that most farmers have to make to come out a little 
ahead each year ; of the barrier that is encountered in bad 
roads, possibly over steep hills ; and finally of the obstacles 
imposed by the conditions of a sparsely settled district. As a 
rule, these cautious, judiciously minded men are in favor of 
the movement in districts at all adapted to the plan. 

The answers to the last question are interesting in more 
ways than one. The correspondents use words which are des- 
tined to have a new and richer meaning in public education, 
and in work for social improvement along all lines. These 
words are agitation, discussion , co-operation and local iyiitiative. 



82 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

Educational leadership is involved here, and it would seem 
that it is more needed even than higher salaries, longer school 
terms, better buildings, and better trained teachers. All 
these improvements can come only through agitation, discus- 
sion, co-operation, and local initiative. These will inevitably 
be chaotic without leadership, and, as a matter of fact, these 
methods of educational improvement can become rightly op- 
erative only with such direction and modification as the best 
educational leaders can give. With leadership it would seem 
to be difl&cult to place bounds to what might be done in rural, 
or any other kind of education. Enlightenment, encourage- 
ment, and assistance will make all sincere parents ambitious 
for their children and for their neighborhoods. To create a 
want is to create the ingenuity and perseverance which are 
necessary to satisfy that want. " Wanting " things does not 
mean "day-dreaming" about things. Many parents are 
"day-dreaming " about the success of their children, but the 
number who really ' ' want ' ' things for their children is not 
so large. The young married couple who, desiring after one 
year's residence in a very humble cottage to live in a nicer 
house and on a better street, go to work to gain that end, 
teach us what the word ' ' want ' ' means. 

It would, therefore, appear that legislation can do no 
more than make it possible for the progressive portion of the 
people to use the institutions of the state for the accomplish- 
ment of their legitimate purposes in accordance with their 
best thought upon the subject in question. Again and again 
in the history of our country have statutes become dead let- 
ters because they lacked the support of public opinion and the 
active support of the best people of the state. One of the 
best ways by which a state can further the interests of the 
rural school is to offer special financial assistance. This is 
not an injustice to the less favored districts. That a district 
should plan largely for the young people for whom it is re- 
sponsible and upon whom it must depend in the coming years, 
only means that it has faith in its young people, that it ex- 
pects something of them, that it believes in the " gospel of 
effort" with proper co-operation. Such communities are 
beacon lights ; they are cities set on a hill, and their light 
and example shine out far over the state and the country in 
which they are located. 

But permissive legislation is only the beginning of the 
problem. It is for agitation and discussion to create the want 
referred to above. The advantages and disadvantages of rural 
life should be discussed ; how the consolidated school when 
fully organized will improve the conditions of rural life ; how 
a community that wants all these improved conditions can 
have them almost as easily as a community easily satisfied can 
have its present meagre advantages. (112) 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 83 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE RURAI, SCHOOIv OF TODAY : AN INDUCTIVE STUDY. 
(Continued) 

Question i^. What uses are made of your rural school 
houses for such purposes as the Sunday-school^ Singing-school, 
Grange meetings, preaching, spelling bees, lectures, Thanks- 
giving services, harvest-home meetings, neighbor-hood Tneetings, 
etc?. 

The data received in response to this inquiry cannot be so 
classified as to be presented, to advantage, in tabular form. 
The significance of triese matters as indirect criteria of the rich- 
ness or povertj' of life in the remoter rural districts is such 
that the replies may well be given in the words of the corre- 
spondents. First, therefore, come replies from several states. 

Illinois. " The schoolhouse is more and more becoming the social 
centre of the neighborhood." 

Kansas. " May be opened for any of these purposes. Largely used 
in remote districts." 

South Carolina. " Freely used for these purposes." 

West Virginia. " They can be used for such purposes upon order of 
the board of education, and they are generally used for such pur- 
poses. 

Replies from some Counties 

Suwannee, Fla. "To some extent Sunday-School is allowed, and oc- 
casionally preaching permitted." 

Colquitt, Ga. " About one-half are used for such purposes." 

Newton, Ga. "Some half dozen.,' 

Rabun, Ga. " Pretty generally." 

Champaign, 111. " A few are so used." 

Ford, 111. " Three Sunday Schools. About one-half have one or two 
entertaiments during the year." 

McLean, 111. "Where needed for such purposes use is granted. 
Town hall or church get most of these here." 

Pope, 111. " Some are used for these purposes." 

Vermilion, 111. " About one in ten used for such purposes." 

Boone, Ind. " A little for Sunday-Schools and neighborhood meet- 
ings. 

Delaware, Ind. "Not much. One centralized school has a yearly 
Thanksgiving exercise and a din ner . Some have lecture courses. ' ' 

Putnam, Ind. " Very little for purposes other than school work. 

Wayne, Ind. " Very little." 

Hamilton, la. " One would have no trouble in procuring any of them 
if no more than ordinary use is required. 

Clay, Ky. "The schoolhouses are frequently used for Sunday- 
schools and gatherings " 

Genesee, Mich. " Seldom used for such purposes." 

Fillmore, Minn. "All these things are but arguments for the consolida- 
tion of our schools. In fact the rural schools must continue to 
deteriorate until some form of consolidation is brought about. 



84 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

Freeborn, Minn. " Used for these purposes to some extent." 

Morrison, Minn. " Usually for all of these." 

Polk, Minn. " Very few used for any other purpose than that for 
which they were intended." 

Camden, N.J. " Practically none." 

Hunterdon, N. J. " Not used for such purposes to any extent." 

Salem, N. J. " Slight use." 

Somerset, N. J. "About one-half for Sunday-schools." 

Delaware, 1 C. D., N. Y. " Very little, and only for religious meet- 
ings." 

Herkimer, 1 C. D., New York. " Very little for any of these." 

Steuben, 2 C. D., N. Y. '• Large number used for the various meet- 
ings of the district." 

Buffalo, Neb. " The schoolhouse is considered public property." 

Gage, Neb, " All, more or less regularly, for these purposes." 

Athens, O. " very little except for educational rallies. 

Beaver, Pa. " Many are used for such purposes." 

Columbia, Pa. " Sunday-schools in about 20. Spelling bees in every 
district." 

Erie, Pa. " Largely used as centres." 

Lycoming, Pa. Some are used for Sunday-schools and church ser- 
vices where there are no churches." 

Montgomery, Pa. " I do not believe one school is so used." 

Washington, Pa., " But very little." 

Westmoreland, Pa. " Almost none." 

Sumter, S. C. " A few where schools have been consolidated." 

Cherokee, Tex. " Generally used for any or all of these purposes. 

Eau Claire, Wis. "Most have some one or more of the meetings 
mentioned." 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 



85 



Question 17 What, texts are used in the rural schools in 
the subjects of i^i) arithmetic ; {2-) grammar ; (3) spelling; 
{4) history f (5) Are they the choice of the teachers, probably 9 

TABLE X. 
TEXTS USED IN SEVERAL OF THE COMMON BRANCHES. 



COUNTY and 
STATE 



Illinois 
Indiana 

Georg-ia 



South Carolina 
West Virginia 


Suwannee . 


. Fla 


Champaign . 


. Ill 


Ford .... 


. 111. 


McLean . , 


. 111. 


Pope .... 


.111. 


Vermilion . 
Allamakee . 


111. 
. la. 



Hamilton . . la. 
Clay . . . . Ky. 
Fillmore . Minn. 



Hunterdon . N.J. 
Salem . . . N.J. 
Somerset . . N.J. 

Steuben 2C.D. NY. 
Buffalo . . . Neb. 
Otoe .... Neb. 
Athens . . O. 
Columbia . . Pa. 

Green .... Pa. 
Montgomery . Pa. 
Venango . . Pa. 
Washington . Pa. 
Dane .... Wis. 
Eau Claire . Wis. 
Waukesa . . Wis. 



Remarks in response to inquiry 



Every school board selects. 

Uniform in state. St. Bd. of Schl. Bk. Commis- 
sioners select. 

Uniform in state with fixed price. Chosen by St 
Bd. of Ed. 

Uniform in state. Chosen by Text-book Comm. 

Uniform m state. Chosen by State Board of Ed. 

County adoptions. 

1. Milne; 2. Metcalf; 3. Swinton & Reed; 4. Field 

1. Hall ; 2. Harvey ; 3. Modern ; 4, Montgomery. 

McMaster. 5. Yes. 
1. Milne ; 2. Maxwell ; 3. Modern ; 4. McMaster: 

5. No. 
1. White ; Hall ; 2. Gowdy, Reed & Kellog ; 3. 

Reed ; 4. Montgomery ; 5. Yes. 
I. Werner, White ; 2. Gowdy ; 3. Rice ; 4. 

McMaster : 5. Some are, and some are pushed in 

by the book companies. 
1. Werner ; 2. Mother Tongue ; 4. McMaster ; 

5. By county superintendent. 
1. White; 2. Steps in English ; 3. Progressive ; 

4. Barnes' New. They are uniform for the 

county 
Maynard, Merrill and Co. 's books, mainly. 
1. Ray ; 2. Harvey : 4. Eclectic. 
1. Milne ; 2. Metcalf, Bright ; 3. Rice ; 4. Mont- 

gomery;5.Teachers have no choice unless they 

get it from the schools from which they come. 
Generally chosen upon advice of the teachers. 
In some cases they are so selected. 
1. Brooks ; 2- Hyde ; 4. Barnes, Montgomery ; 5. 

Not Generally the choice of the teachers. 
1. Milne : 2. Reed & Kellogg ; 3. Rice ; 4. Barnes. 
American Book Co.'s publications largely.5 Yes. 
All kinds. 5. Generally, yes 
Generally anything that the pupils bring. 
Teachers in about half the districts influence 

directors. 
The choice of the directors. 
Generally selected by the teachers. 
Generally selected by the teachers. 
Principally by the directors. 
American Book Co., mainly. 
Ginn & Co's. books predominate. 
Most have texts quite up to date. 



86 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

Question i^. (a) What are some of the strongest poitits 
in present day school workf (/^) What some of the weakest ? 
While it would be possible to classify the replies to this 
inquiry to a certain extent it is doubtful if they can be used 
to greater advantage than to present the more significant ones 
in the language of the correspondent. For this purpose a 
kind of table might be used as before, 

TABLE XI. 

POINTS OF STRENGTH AND OF WEAKNESS IN PRESENT DAY SCHOOL 

WORK. 



COUNTY and STATE 



Kansas 

South Carolina . 

West Virginia 

Colquitt . . . 111. 
Newton . . . Ga. 



McLean 



111. 



Pope 111. 

Boone . . . Ind. 
Putnam . . . Ind. 

Tippecanoe . Ind. 
Hamilton . Iowa 
Fillmore . Minn. 



Polk . . . Minn. 
Hunterdon . N. J. 



Salem . . 
Somerset 



N.J. 
N.J. 



Some of the more Significant replies. 



(a) Mastery of essentials. Reading- and oral and 
written expression, (b) Too wide a scope of 
"enrichment." 

One of the greatest needs, awaken, awaken, 
awaken ! 

(a) Following the course of study outlined in 
the manual. 

(b) Poor teaching, 
(b) Lack of funds. 

(a) Classifying the work so as not to scatter 
effort. 

(b) Trying to cover too much ground. Not doing 
thorough work. 

(b) Lazy teachers. 

(a) Careful organization. Close supervision. 

(b) Tendency to overload course. Weak 
teachers. 

(b) Lack of academic knowledge. 

(b) Small schools. Poor salaries. 

(a) An earnest body of teachers, (b) A short 
school term. 

(a) Arithmetic, (b). Language and Literature. 

(a) Arithmetic. Probably reading. 

(a) "The strongest point in the rural school is 
the fact that the children have work to do out- 
side of school, which fits them better for life 
than all school and no outside work." (b) The 
weakest point in general is that boys and girls 
are not taught to work with their hands." 

(a) Arithmetic, (b) Reading. 

(a) Trained teachers looking for light, kinder- 
garten and primary work. (b) Too much 
"system," — artificial and mechanical. Eighth 

grade and up. 

(b) Lack of earnest teachers. 

(a) Writing and language. Contact of good per- 
sonalities. 

(b) Reading and history. Lack of professional 
training. 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 87 

TABLE XI., Continued 



COUNTY and STATE 



Buffalo 



Neb. 



Gage .... Neb. 
Bucks .... Pa. 
Columbia . . Pa. 



Erie . . . 

Juniata . 
Lycoming- 



Sumter 
Dane . . 



Pa. 

Pa. 
Pa. 



S. C. 

Wis. 



Some of the more significant replies 



(b) The low salaries paid. A corn busker makes 
from two to four dollars a day and board. A 
maid of all work commands six dollars a week 
and board. 

h) Irregular attendance. 

b) Ignorant boards. 

a) Educational sentiment, (b) Lack of teach- 
ing force, frequent changes, lack of system. 

a) Our system is thorough and the educational 
spirit good. 

b) We need more competent teachers. 

a) Universal interest in education. Desire to 
eliminate fads. 

b) Too many studies. 

b) Failure to hold pupils until completion of 

course. 

) Tendency to centralization, (b) Inefficient 

teaching caused by too little compensation to 

insure ample preparation, 
b) Poorly paid school officials and teachers, 
b) Reading. 

a) Primary number work, (b) Primary Reading 
a) Its democratic conditions. (b) Parental 

aloofness. 

a) Increased efficiency of teachers and better 
improvements. 

b) Small attendance. 



Genera! Discussion of the Questionaire Material 

I. School Supervision ^ aiid the Preparation of the Teacher. 

Of the 32 1 1 74 rural school children included in the re- 
turns to the questionaire only 15058 are enrolled in schools 
having supervision other than that of the county superintend- 
ent or the county school commissioner. This is less than one 
child in twenty, or more precisely 4.68 per cent. In a county 
of twenty townships not one of average size, quite, would be 
entitled to such additional supervision. The significance of 
supervision can be ascertained, however, only in the light of 
an entirely different set of figures, viz., those giving data on 
the professional preparation of the rural school teacher. If 
he were as well prepared for his work as the bachelor in di- 
vinity is for the ministry, the doctor of medicine for medicine, 
the graduate in law for law, and the doctor of philosophy is 
for the academic career, then the above figures would lose a 
large part of their significance. As a matter of fact the 
teacher in the average rural school is without professional 
preparation and is generally lacking in academic knowledge. 
(See relevant parts of Table VI. ) 



88 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

Of the 52 counties represented in Table VI five reported 
that all, or nearly all, the rural school teachers had been pre- 
pared wholly in the rural school. Six reported from 75 to 80 
per cent, of their teachers to be so educated. Eight reported 
from 4o to 60 per cent, to be so prepared. Nine reported the 
corresponding figures to be from 20 to 40 per cent. Six re- 
ported these figures to be from lO to 20 per cent ; and twelve, 
that it is 5 per cent., or less, of their teachers who are pre- 
pared wholly in the rural schools in which they teach. Six 
reported that all their teachers had some training in schools of 
higher grade. Assuming that the counties are of equal popu- 
lation, (to avoid endless multiplication and division,) only 11 
per cent, of the counties can report that all their teachers have 
had training in schools of higher grade than those in which 
they teach. But the questions arise : Is this training not 
such as to render supervision in addition to that of the county 
superintendent necessary ? At what sort of school was this 
" higher" training received? Was it a year or so in a high 
school? Was it at some private school, or at a district normal 
school which continued for a term of six to ten weeks ? Or 
was it at a summer school of methods ? These questions 
could have been included in the list if there were no limit to 
the demands one teacher may make upon another's time and 
thought. The answers might have been worth more for our 
purpose if the question had run : What per cent, of your 
rural school teachers have had one or two year's work beyond 
the rural school ? In what kind of school ? 

One might sum up the data on the preparation of the 
rural school teacher and say: (i) In a considerable part 
(more than 10 per cent.) of the counties all the teachers were 
prepared in schools of like grade with those in which they are 
called to teach, (2) In the same proportion of counties all the 
teachers are claimed to have received a higher training, the 
exact character of which is undetermined because of incom- 
plete data. (3) The other counties range between these ex- 
tremes, having a varying proportion of teachers who have had 
some higher training. The need of closer supervision can be 
seen in the light of these facts. The rural school teachers are 
untrained from a professional and academic standpoint to so 
large a degree as to make it impossible to class them with the 
professional or learned classes, if these terms are strictly de- 
fined. In point of efiiciency they must be classed with the 
journeyman and trade apprentice, for they are working on a 
minimum of knowledge, with a minimum of skill, for the lack 
of which moral earnestness will not make adequate amends. 
From the engineer's standpoint the question would be : How 
can I with a given amount of money at my command increase 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 89 

the efficiency of the institution in and for which I labor-in- 
crease the efficiency of the commonest laborer in that institu- 
tion ? His answer in all the commercial and industrial lines 
of activity is that it must be done by supervision, and that of 
a skilled character. The expert superintendent is indispen- 
sable in all the trades and industries, and we shall learn soon 
that the same thing must be done to increase the efficiency of 
the rural school teacher. And we shall learn to come to this 
change without sudden breaks or upheavals. Just as it would 
be impossible to run a printing house profitably by putting it 
in the hands of certain inexperienced persons who had, for- 
sooth, been sent away a term to a night school of printing, or 
to a mid-summer seaside school of printing, without head or 
supervision, so the rural school can not be run effectively by 
that plan. The expert printer's services are needed to unify 
the work, to keep up with the latest and best things in the 
art of printing, and to see that all the employes are working 
up to the highest degree of efficiency. More than 95 per cent, 
of the rural schools included in this study follow the supposed 
plan of the foolish printing company-give all the interests 
over to the comparatively uninitiated without any real super- 
vision. If this condition is true of the 8666 rural schools con- 
sidered in this study, what of the other rural schools of the 
country ? One recalls in this connection the statement of the 
Committee of Twelve that the " number of normal trained 
teachers in rural schools is lamentably small," and "rural 
schools suffer from lack of trained teachers." (113). 

The Course of Study 

The statements to the effect that the county has a course 
of study but it is difficult to get the teachers to follow it and 
that the course is followed ' ' strictly ' ' give a clue to the real 
condition of affairs in many, at least, of our rural counties, so 
far as the course of study is concerned. Courses are worked 
out, printed, and placed in the hands of the teachers In too 
many cases there is evidently no way of holding the teachers 
up to the printed course and preparing them to carry out its 
directions if they are not yet competent to do so. The aver- 
age amount of supervision given the teachers of the 300,000 
rural school children whose cultural and educational advan- 
tages it is sought to ascertain in this study would enable the 
county superintendent or commissioner to do very little to- 
wards carrying out the intent of an elaborate state or county 
course of study. This is not easy when conditions are most 
favorable, and the difficulties of the problem are greatly en- 
hanced in the less favored counties. One or two supervisory 
visits a year (or less) will never bring the rural schools up to 



90 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

a fair standard of efl&ciency in carrying out in a broad way the 
provisions of an adequate course of study. Any elaborate 
course of study would seem to assume either a superior degree 
of ability in the rural teacher or supervision adequate to raise 
the level of the teacher's efficiency in a comparatively short 
time. 

If one were to assume that many of the courses indicated 
above are exactly the course that the rural schools need, (and 
many of them are really meritorious from the standpoint of 
pedagogical insight and in their right emphasis of the content 
side of the curriculum) he would still be confronted with the 
engineer's problem. Can one do the thing proposed mth the 
means at hand in the time allowed ? The difficulty of holding 
the rank and file of the teachers up to a prescribed course of 
study from the central office of the county or large district has 
now been pointed out. (114) It remains to consider briefly 
the essential nature of the course of study. The best way in 
which to regard these elaborate courses of study is to take 
them as counsels of excellence, as suggestions of what could 
be done with well trained teachers, as a prophecy of what the 
American rural school will do when the people are awakened 
to the needs of their children and of the fair land in which 
they live. But if some foreigner visiting our country were to 
collect the courses of study from our twenty leading counties 
and collate their contents as representing what is taught, and 
how much it is taught, in our average country schools his 
mistake would be an egregious one. 

Passing on from the contention that our printed courses 
of study are but slightly to be trusted as exact indices of the 
work t'^ at is done now in the rural school, both in quantity 
and in Quality, I desire to point out that there is the greatest 
uncertainty of sound in much of our current educational litera- 
ture on ^ he whole subject of the curriculum. What should 
the cour^ e of study be ? Can the present one be slightly modi- 
fied so as to meet every reasonable demand, or will it be nec- 
essary to construct an entirely new one ? Is the course of 
study that is best for the city also the best for the country 
school ? If the plan of reconstruction or revolution be adopted 
what shall be the principles of procedure ? These are ques- 
tions that educational writers can not permanently postpone. 

The principles of reconstruction which would have to be 
taken into consideration in an effort to build upon the ground 
thus prepared are (i) the venerable doctrine that certain 
studies which are of very little value in themselves are of the 
greatest value for purely disciplinary power ; the claim that 
what is taught shall have a certain utility either for the child 
himself or for society and the state ; the relation of the sensory 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 91 

and verbal side of education to the motor and constructive 
side ; and finally to what extent the principle of specialization 
can be adopted in the common school course in the high school 
and below ; and whether this same thing can not be done for 
the rural school after consolidation shall have become some- 
what general. 

It now seems probable that we shall, at an early date, find 
it necessary to adopt a plan of thoroughgoing reconstruction 
in our course of study. What shall be the attitude of the pro- 
gressive school men, therefore, who are by no means satisfied 
with the present course of study and who are not sure just what 
changes they ought to make in the course which they have 
inherited to meet reasonable demands ? The safe plan here is 
not to adopt suggestions that are too radical. One may well 
temporize, making only such changes as he is sure of, or such 
as have, perhaps, been tried elsewhere. This is the plan of 
improving the present course of study. Several suggestions 
may be made as to how this may be done. One method is that 
of elimination. The less important subjects in each study may 
be eli - iuated and the time thus saved may be used for con- 
fessedly more important matters. Another suggestion is that 
the subjects may be so correlated as to enrich the work and 
save much time. For instance, spelling may be taught m 
connection with all written work ; geography and history may 
be taught together to the advantage of both, and m less time 
than would be required for the plan which regards them as 
subjects to be treated in entire isolation ; then composition fits 
in with several subjects and it may be profitably taught m 
connection therewith. A third plan is closely related with the 
last named, viz., teaching certain things incidentally, m more 
or less close relation, however, with other subjects. Morals 
and manners are mostly taught in this way. Current events, 
the main points of elementary grammar, music, and hygiene 
are subjects which might most easily and profitably lend them- 
selves to this mode of treatment. A fourth method is that of 
omission. Certain subjects are to be omitted at least from 
some of the grades in which they are qow taught. This has 
been done in cities large and small, and it represents a serious 
reaction against the present overburdened curriculum. It is 
impossible in this study to go into the subject of the curric- 
ulum at greater length. The literature on this subject is a 
great and rapidly increasing one. The course of study is the 
subject of one of the most notable pedagogical publications of 
the last year, a work of two volumes by Chas. A. McMurry, 

Ph. D. (ii6) , , 

Question 5, concerning the reading matter used above 
the third grade, introduces a subject that demands some dis- 



92 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

cussion. There are two facts which seem equally striking in 
this connection, viz., (i) that so many good things have been 
introduced into the reading work of these grades within a 
short time in so many places ; (2) that there are so many 
schools in which there is no other reading material than that 
contained in the readers. This new matter which has been 
recently added to the work in reading may be spoken of as 
' ' literary wholes ' ' to distinguish it from the matter contained 
in the usual readers the plan of which precludes the presenta- 
tion of any lengthy "literary wholes." The usual reader 
material is of far less value from the literary, the ethical, the 
cultural standpoint than a much smaller number of the longer 
classics, or literary wholes. In the latter case the value is en- 
hanced for several reasons among which are these : (i) The 
interest grows during the entire study of any great classic 
from the first page to the last because there is such an arrange- 
ment of human elements as to produce this cumulative effect ; 
(2) the student gets a far better conception of how a classic 
grows and is built up out of elements and parts that may 
easily be analyzed; (3) the educative, expansive, character of 
a classic (which may be wholly incidental) is greater in the 
classic although the intellectual elements may not be as great 
or valuable as the same number of reader material pages ; (4) 
sometimes a whole classic is necessary to give one a back- 
ground to a great epoch in history or a period of human de- 
velopment. The whole classic will likely be needed to give 
one as deep an insight into historic development as possible. 
Such is the nature and value of Evangeline, of the Courtship 
of Miles Standish, and of William Tell. All classics are more 
or less so. (117) 

On the other hand it may be said that the readers are 
often rich in short poems that are among the choicest gems of 
literature. These are wholes, but instead of using them in a 
setting of stories of travel or adventure, of biography and 
scraps of so-called nature study description, it would be better 
to give them a literary setting in the longer wholes which are 
mentioned in the answers to question 5. The short poems 
here referred to could be introduced for the educational pur- 
pose of enrichment ; as incidents in an important epoch ; for 
purposes of comparison with some passage which the short 
poem resembles or of which it otherwise reminds one ; or for 
variety, interspersed between the longer and more serious 
classic wholes which should form the larger part of the read- 
ing matter beyond the third school year. When the reader 
plan is followed there are so many different entirely unrelated 
units of thought that the memory must retain if the work in 
reading is to produce its best effect, and not be a mere drill in 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 93 

the mechanics of reading. Usually the memory is injured 
rather than built up. In a hurried study of the content of a 
number of readers I found, taking all the readers in a rather 
well supplied city school library as the basis of my study, that 
the average length of selection in the second reader is 2.35 
pages, the shortest average being 1.7, and the longest average 
being 3.5 pages. For the third reader the corresponding fig- 
ures are 2.88, 2.30, and 3.50 pages respectively. In the case 
of the fourth reader the figures are 4.28. 3.40, and 5.80 pages 
respectively. This is a compass not ample enough to allow 
an author to exhibit his constructive powers and to give an 
adequate conception of cause and effect working themselves 
out in the lives of men and women and nations. It is only 
the genius that can do this at all, and he can do it only on 
condition that he shall have space enough to make plans, de- 
velop them, reach climaxes, and move on to inevitable con- 
clusions. And I submit that it is the purpose oi literature to 
describe conditions and make them clear, and to leave it to the 
intelligence of the reader to explain and trace out cause and 
effect in the development of human character. 

President Eliot makes an almost startling statement in 
regard to the amount of matter that the usual reader plan 
provides for the children in the grades. He found as the 
result of a brief examination of the grammar schools that the 
average amount of material read under the head of " reading " 
is only 11 50 pages. He calculates that if the rate of a fairly 
active boy be put at 25 pages an hour, the public school 
pupil has in the whole eight years enough reading matter to 
occupy his undivided time for just 46 hours When this 
condition on the quantitative side of the subject is taken in 
connection with the facts that have been brought out in the 
discussion of the matter in its qualitative aspects, the situation 
of affairs in the average rural school so far as reading is con- 
cerned can not be viewed with complacency. There is a man- 
ifest poverty of material in our public schools in one of the 
most important subjects — a subject that may easily be made 
to yield the richest results for the future life of the child. 
There can not be found any apology for such a condition of 
affairs in our schools, considering how inexpensive most of 
■ the classics are. Custom and habit weigh heavily upon most 
schoolmasters, and still more so with boards of education. 
Of course it is far more easy to order the books for the reader 
course and not bother with the selection of classics adapted to 
the several grades ; it is cheaper to have only the readers ; the 
readers are easier to teach, for all the work is graded, adapted, 
abridged, annotated, and provided with lists of words hard to 
pronounce accurately marked, all new words defined, and even 



94 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

lists of themes for profitable compositions are given ; and 
finally the book agent is vigorous in pressing the claims of 
his set of readers while there is little pecuniary interest in the 
sale of English classics for use in the public schools. 

lyiterature, science, or nature study, and history (the last 
of which is not mentioned in the table) are the great content 
subjects of the public school curriculum. The answers to 
question 6 will enable one to judge whether the course as now 
found is strong or weak on the content side. From the time 
of the sophists in Greece there has been a sharp distinction 
drawn between subjects pursued mainly for the content value 
and another kind of study which is held to be of a wholly for- 
mal value. This emphasis seems to be maximal in the cur- 
riculum of our rural and city school systems below the high 
school. It is contented that certain studies of comparatively 
slight value in themselves are of the greatest value in giving 
mental discipline, formal power, which like electricity in a 
storage battery or water in a standpipe may be tapped off into 
any desired channel and used in the performance of various 
kinds of work. Reading, considered as a mechanical habitu- 
ation, spelling, writing, and arithmetic, the sum and sub- 
stance of our older public school curriculum, constitute to-day 
the recognized backbone of all rural school curricula every- 
where. May not one acquire facility in pronouncing hard 
words and juggling with mysterious mathematical signs and 
figures without enriching his life on the content side ? Should 
not formal development go hand in hand with development 
along lines of rich content? If such is the thought with 
which one examines our rural school curriculum he will soon 
find himself driven to the conclusion that it needs enrichment 
on the content side, and the statistics showing the work done 
in science, nature study, and literature are to be considered 
alone from this standpoint. 

The answers to questions 8 and g are especially significant 
as indicating the strength or weakness of the common school 
curriculum on the motor, expressive, or creative side. It 
would seem to be difficult to find any biological basis at all for 
our present course of study, and the only psychological basis 
is that of a poor and discredited psychology — the psychology 
of the intellect — the emotions, sentiments, and action being 
entirely neglected. (129) Possibly a triple division of sub- 
jects into those of content, of explression, and of purely for- 
mal value would be the most suggestive for purposes of inter- 
pretation and evaluation in the study of the curriculum. 
Expressive subjects give self-mastery ; the formal give one 
command of the symbols through which the thoughts and 
achievements of one age become transmissible to and interpre 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 95 

table by a later age ; while the content subjects add enrich- 
ment by feeding the soul. (117) In what proportions and 
in what order these elements should be introduced into the 
curriculum of the common school is for a true ethics and a 
true psychology to determine. We have gone far enough, at 
least, to see that any system of schools must be classed as 
weak that is seriously lacking in content, or that provides for 
no development along lines of expression and creative activi- 
ty. Imitation is the method by which the child gains self 
mastery through expressive and creative activity. It is this 
fact that makes all sorts of imitative games so valuable in the 
early stages of education. The ordinary school curriculum 
provides for no imitative activity whatever, and in many texts 
in psychology it would seem to be regarded as a subject of 
little value. Imitation is a sign of weakness, the imitator not 
having any initiative of his own. Asa matter of fact, it may 
well be questioned whether there would ever be any advance- 
ment in originality if there v^ere not first more or less passive 
imitation. Professor J. Mark Baldwin well says : "We can- 
not divide the child into two parts, two realities coming up to 
the facts of life with two capabilities, one fitted only to imi- 
tate, and the other fitted to invent. Of course it is the same 
child whatever he does ; and if he be gifted with the power of 
invention at all, this power should show itself in all he does." 
(118) 

There are certain subjects of an obviously practical value 
for the rural school, such as the study of the weather map and 
agricultural topics. The answers to question? 3 and 11 give 
some facts enabling one to judge of the character of our rural 
school work in this regard. The rural consciousness is just 
awaking to the importance of these matters. 

Questions 14 and 18 seek information on matters which 
point out what the attitude of the community is towards its 
school. Is it a social centre to any degree? Are the parents 
interested enough to attend meetings called for the improve- 
ment of the school ? Are the teachers and school ofiicers im- 
bued with the thought that only through co-operation among 
all parties concerned can the school become the great social in- 
stitution that it ought to become ? We usually like to be with 
people we esteem, and at places that give us instruction and 
inspiration. What is the value of the rural school as a place 
of inspiration to pupils and to their parents ? It is only a 
sentimental value that one attaches to the Bible if he makes 
no use of its contents for the spiritual guidance and help of 
which he feels continual need. It is vain for parents to pro- 
test their interest in the school if they never go near it or help 
it to do its work in an increasingly effective wa)^ If they do 



96 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

not use it to its fullest limit they are not its best helpers. 
The school is like the Bible and money. It must be used to 
bring out its greatest value. Taken in connection with the 
facts in regard to the improvement of the school ground and 
buildings, these answers indicate what the attitude of the pub- 
lic really is towards the school and what it is probably most in 
need of — a great crusade of enlightenment and agitation. If 
the country people loved their rural schools as they say they 
do, and as they may think they do, they would adorn them 
and point to them with as much p^ide as they now do to their 
neat barns, well kept horses and cattle, or to their wide waving 
fields of grain and their burdened orchards. 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES «7 

CHAPTER VIII. 

the; ruraIv school of THS FU'TUE.B 

What will the rural school of the future be like ? What 
will it do ? How will it do it ? How will the needed trans- 
formation of conditions be brought about ? In what funda- 
mental respects will it differ from the rural school of our day ? 
These questions suggest a very interesting field for the exer- 
cise of the imagination because of the acknowledged advan- 
tages of life in the country. But there are certain known ele- 
ments of the problem which lift it into a higher sphere than 
that of mere imagination. It is these known elements which 
mark it as a field especially interesting to the educational theo- 
rist and the social reformer, or destine it to become interesting 
to all such men. Is it not as reasonable to study the future of 
the American rural school as it is to study the future of 
American diplomacy, the future of theology, the future of 
medicine, or the future of railways ? The rural school can 
never rise to its proper place among the institutions of civili- 
zation and culture until it is the object of the best thought 
and the centre of the most enlightened and sympathetic co-op- 
eration of the wisest and best people— until it is an object of 
concern to all people whose homes are in the country. This 
interest cannot be aroused without much hard pioneer work. 

It is some time since we have entered upon a new epoch 
so far as the American rural school is concerned — an epoch of 
inquiry into its conditions and its needs, and of appreciation 
so far as its mission and opportunity are concerned. The cry 
of the occasional speaker of the late 70' s and the 80' s has 
elicited an interest that is now on the increase and bids fair to 
work decided changes in our rural school program. Commit- 
tees have been appointed, have made their studies, have re- 
ported, and have been heard. In certain localities forces are 
working out changes in rural schools that are very promising. 
How can the findings of committees be made more effective ? 
How can the social forces now working beneficient changes in 
a few localities be made more generally operative ? 

In such a study as that which is proposed in this chapter 
there can be no very critical consideration of those changes 
which by degrees almost imperceptible bridge over the chasm 
between the rural school of the past and that of the future. 
It is always easier to trace out the causes and conditions of a 
historical event than it is to foretell precisely how causes and 
modifying causes will conspire to produce an event to which 
one looks forward. Hence most of those false prophecies 
that have gone out into the world. Great, however, as is the 



98 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

risk, it is best not to conclude this study without a chapter on 
the rural school of the future. 

What, therefore, of the rural school of the future? 

I, In the first place, the chief concern of rural school of 
the future will be what it can do and what it can become, not 
what it has been and what it has done. The custom of 
defending what is habitual, or repelling the novel by reciting 
the methods and aims of our forefathers must be discarded in 
the case of the rural, as it has been in the case of the best 
city schools. No institution, any more than a state, wholly 
unconscious of an inherited destiny, a future, a mission of 
, service and power, a purpose earnestly striven for, a policy, 
if yon please, can long escape general inefl&ciency and deca- 
dence. Rooted and grounded in the past as all social institu- 
tions doubtless are, their chief source of inspiration is in the 
future and their only potential aspect is toward the future. 
It is the bane of the rural school that most of the persons in 
authority have been either unable or unwilling to withdraw 
their eyes from the past long enough to take a thoughtful 
look at the future. It is a deserved reproach of the common 
school that all reforms through which it has passed have been 
forced upon it from without and not developed from within. 
An attitude less hostile to the new, if it had been adopted by 
the schoolmaster with his superiors and advisers, would have 
saved the teaching body from this galling reproach. And 
what if the schoolmaster's attitude had been inquisitive and 
actively hospitable to the new ? But we should not ask more 
of the schoolmaster of the past than we do of the preacher, 
the lawyer, the physician, or the statesman. With a spirit of 
fairness and a knowledge of the conditions under which, in 
nearly all ages, he has been compelled to work, we shall be 
prompted to ask far less. In the pase of each profession, 
devious, interrupted, diflBcult is the way that leads from hos- 
tility toward the new to glad acceptance of the new, from what- 
ever source it might come. Many professional men are still 
worshiping the Idols of custom and tradition with hurtful 
devotion. 

The day of the new rural school will not come to-morrow, 
and it may not come within the next two or three decades ; 
but when that day comes it will dawn upon a school that is 
conscious of a sacred mission, a great purpose, a working pol- 
icy, and a gaze fixed upon the future. The most active in 
shaping the character of the rural school will be leaders not 
second to those that have molded the character of any other 
profession or institution. The problems that will be sure to 
arise will be solved by the methods of co-operation which will 
involve initiative, criticism, tolerance, progress by the adoption 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 99 

of the new and the elimination of the useless old. The prob- 
lems will be recognized as the problems of the community, 
and not of a class. 

2. In the second place the rural school of the future 
will become aggressively active. This activity will grow out 
of interest and a desire to improve the rural school in all of its 
aspects and departments. The one great desideratum before 
any attempt is made to improve the school is to bring the 
people of the rural community to a healthful awareness (i) 
that the future of our country depends upon how the rural 
districts bring up their children ; (2) that fields, flowers, 
blue sky, a neglected school, and an underpaid and ill-pre- 
pared teacher are not enough left to themselves to wield the 
desired influence upon these children ; (3) that trained 
leadership is as much needed in the development of country 
life and thought as it has been needed for the same purposes 
in the city ; (4) that such leadership will cost something — 
something in money and not less, something in terms of social 
appreciation and confidence. It would not seem to be necessary 
to dwell upon the cultural, the ethical value of a free country 
life — country life at its best. (129) A pretty general knowl- 
edge of this higher value of country life at its best may be 
taken for granted. How can the public conscience and pub- 
lic opinion be quickened and developed ? Only by a number 
of persons whose interest in the economic, social, educational, 
and aesthetic aspects of rural community life is great enough 
to enable them to mold public opinion. Better conditions of 
labor, more eflScient tillage of the land, the educational, cul- 
tural, and recreative use of a greater number of holidays ; 
better knowledge of plants and soils, of markets and market- 
ing ; a more thorough diffusion of all pertinent scientific 
knowledge, and especially of agricultural knowledge, — these 
are examples of the benefits that will accrue from a policy 
that is aggressive for the improvement of rural life. Public 
opinion will prepare its own leaders and in turn will be react- 
ed upon by those leaders. Through some such stages as these 
is arising whatever active rural school policy we have, and in 
this way such a policy will continue to grow and extend. 

3. In the next place the rural school of the future will 
differ sharply from the school of a few decades ago and from 
the school of our day in a number of important respects 
(i). It will not be an isolated school for twenty or fewer 
pupils, 100 days in the year, and playing no part in the social 
well being of the community. The educative forces in such 
a school are not powerful. There is no vital contact with the 
best intellectual, artistic and ethical institutions and products 
of the age. The problems of such a school are not the prob- 



100 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

lems of life. There is nothing in such a school to stimulate, 
to arouse, to inform, to mold those for whom the school ex- 
ists. Its work is almost necessarily dead and formal. Its 
purpose according to theory is to form character ; in practice 
it is the dispenser of and the drill master in the symbols of our 
civilization, working in utter disjunction from the great prob- 
lems of a rich life. 

There is a great economic loss involved in the possession 
of either church or school used so little as these institutions 
are, used today all over our country. Taking the country as a 
whole, the rural school house is used about five or six hours, 
for five days in the week, for half of the year. Society owns 
no other common property that is used so little. (120) This 
loss must continue until the new rural school appears. What 
change in the attitude towards the rural school will bring 
about the more economic use of the rural school buildings ? 
The answer lies in the fact that the rural school of the future 
will be (2) the social centre of the rural community. What is 
the social centre in the average rural community of our day ? 
The answer is easy. There is none. There is no place in the 
average rural community that deserves the name — social 
centre. A social centre is a meeting ground for the interplay 
of social forces, those unseen but potent mental energies, 
which are brought into action when one individual meets an- 
other. The social centre of the community is the meeting 
ground for the interplay of all the constructive social forces 
inherent in all the individuals which comprise such commu- 
nity. Why could the rural church not furnish this meeting 
ground ? It might ; but from the standpoint of social leader- 
ship, it would have to change its method of work and its atti- 
tude towards the problems of rural life. These changes are 
likely to be harder to bring about than those which would be 
required to make the rural school worthy of confidence as the 
social centre of the community. (23) 

Now the same objection cannot be urged against the 
school, for there is this essential difference between the church 
and the school, that the latter is not the vehicle of such prej- 
udices, such animosities, such sectarian demarcations as is the 
church. The activity of the church is too often centered in 
dogma, which is something finished, perfect, divine. There 
is no such finality in the theory and practice of elementary 
education as to render discussion and agitation for change im- 
possible or undesirable. It is only by fresh thinking and the 
perpetual interchange of ideas on any concept that it can be 
kept from becoming the content of an unchanging, and there- 
fore dead, verbiage, " Better fifty years of Europe than a 
cycle of Cathay," because in the one there is a relentless hos- 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 101 

tility to all agitation, to the new ; in the other, society comes 
to ever clearer consciousness of its nature, its powers, its des- 
tiny and duties by the sharp attrition of mind upon mind. 
Steel sharpens steel. 

So the school is far better fitted to become the social 
centre of the community than any church would possibly be. 
The school engrosses more interests which all members of the 
community hold in common. It may be assumed that it is 
possible to unite all members of the community in certain in- 
terests and activities, among which the following might be 
named : Interest in the education of their own children ; in- 
terest in the industrial education of these children ; a desire to 
have as good schools as the means at hand can secure ; a wish 
to promote good feeling, a knowledge of many cultural things, 
and to foster a broad community sympathy. The school is 
just the place to be chosen as the centre for all this construct- 
ive activity. And it is now really becoming the centre for 
such interest and activity at a far more rapid rate than one 
would suspect. 

This position as the social centre of the community will 
give the rural school of the future great power, but it will en- 
tail a lofty duty and a high responsibility. How is it ever to 
measure up to such a high standard of efl&ciency and power ? 
Only by co-operation between a body of professionally trained 
teachers and supervisory ofiicers on the one hand, and all 
other members of the community on the other hand, (119) 
It must stand in the closest possible touch with the material 
and the spiritual needs of men as the men regard these needs, 
or as an institution it cannot endure long. (121) In the 
meetings of a community thus enlightened by the spirit and 
practice of mutual helpfulness, the freest expression of opin- 
ion may be encouraged without fear of arousing prejudice or 
acrimony. The co-operation which is here ever kept in mind 
is not a sentimental one in which the assessed shall paj^ all 
the taxes for the support of the school, and the teacher all the 
brains required to run them. It is an organic co-operation of 
the members of a society for the accomplishment of a cons- 
ciously set collective end. Every question rests for final set- 
tlement with that society. This is not held to mean that soci- 
ety, so working, shall have no need of leadership, of guidance. 
Just the contrary. But such a society will be most helped by 
leaders who can learn many lessons from the led, and who are 
adepts in the technique of social suggestion and such manly 
persuasion and argumentation as are proper in an enlightened 
democracy. A society without such leadership is civilization 
turned back to the middle ages, and leadership without the 
intelligent, frank, hearty, unenforced support of the majority 



102 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

is an anachronism in our day, and a blot on civilization, 
wherever found. 

But the school of the future will differ from the school of 
the past and the present in that it will be (3) a seminary of 
physical, intellectual and moral culture. It will relate itself 
far more intimately and vitally to the practical interests of the 
community on the one hand : and on the other hand it will 
relate itself with (a) these ideals of individual and social health 
and worth without which no community or state can attain its 
highest and healthiest development ; and (b) play and recrea- 
tion for cultural ends, and not for useless or vulgar display or 
mere soul-destroying pastime. Instead of being a place where 
for a few short hours on certain days of the week a few set 
ideas are drilled into the intellects of the children, it will be a 
place of culture, and training, and inspiration, as well as in- 
struction and informing. It will be a seminary. A seminary 
is a place where seeds grow — grow, too, under conditions that 
are well adapted to the end in view and to the nature of the 
seed. A school that is a seminary is a place where the seed 
thoughts of civilization are caused to take root in the intellects, 
and hearts of the students which have been entrusted to them. 
The physical environment, school atmosphere, relation 
between teacher and pupil, training of those who aspire to be 
the teachers in this school, methods of securing helpful co- 
operation between the school authorities and the community 
at large will be matters of primal importance in the educa- 
tional economy of the future rural school. The school so or- 
ganized and managed will go on to ascertain the real values of 
the different subjects of the school curriculum. What are 
ends in themselves ? Which only means ? In a school so 
alert it will be impossible for so much time to be spent on a 
group of subjects that are only instruments of further ad- 
vancement. (122) The course of study in the rural school 
will be a course that is endorsed by a large majority of the 
people themselves. 

There are two locations that are equally objectionable 
from the standpoint of environment, the busy, noisy, crowded 
street corner of a large city and the isolated, treeless corner of 
a country cross-roads. In the future both city and country 
will see to it that these locations are religiously avoided. In 
many a rural community it would be possible to find a village 
or small town sufficiently near the geographical or population 
centre to be made the convenient school centre of said com- 
munity. This would have its obvious advantages over the 
bleak country cross-roads where the school-house is likely to 
be nothing but ' ' a ragged beggar sunning. ' ' Its proximity 
to the mail *vill be one great advantage. The probability that 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 103 

one or more railways would have stations at the centre, with 
their natural stimulation to thought and imagination, and 
their social significance, will be aa advantage over the usual 
position. (See Ch, i, i.) Here are advantages, too, for a 
concrete study of the duties of citizenship. Of course the 
object will always be to have this interest extend out over the 
whole district, but it may be more easily begun in a town or 
village because of the greater concentration and richness of 
municipal interest. Here one is sure to find some officers of 
the peace and the law which may be used to enkindle a desire 
to know what the law, the state, the community, the govern- 
ment, really are. Here we shall have the telephone, the tele- 
graph, the typewriter, the newspaper, and the magazine. 
The church is really the religious centre of the community, 
likely, and the church can only gain by the proximity of 
the school. The school will thus have a far more extended 
and potent socializing influence in the community for all these 
reasons. It will make co-operation more easy by making it 
easier to get together and more likely to be profitable for the 
people who come together. 

Of the atmosphere of this school of the future little need 
be said. It will be an atmosphere different from that in which 
our children now spend their school days. It will grow out 
of the character of the teaching force ; out of the newer 
conception of the purposes and value of education 
in a democratic society ; out of a course of study better ad- 
apted to the children of such schools ; out of greater mutual 
confidence between parents and children and the so-called 
school authorities. In this school of the future the test of 
teaching will be one's power to cause the pupil to "under- 
stand, and appreciate, and react on the resoucres and the 
problems of modern civilization. (123) The relation between 
teacher and pupil in the school of the future will be like that 
which now exists between the best parents and their children, 
or between the best teachers and their pupils when working 
under conditions the most favorable. It will be one of mutual 
confidence and trust. The work of such schools will not be 
regarded so much as a preparation for life as an introduction 
into life with its rich store of modern thought, aspiration, and 
ideals of personal attainment and social service. The teacher, 
so trained and so inspired, will be like the great Teacher in at 
least one important respect. He will be able sincerely and 
reverently to say, "I have come that ye might have 
life and that ye might have it more abundantly." 
Such will be real pedagogues, teachers, leaders of 
the young. Between such and their pupils there can be 
none but helpful, stimulating, confidence -inspiring relations. 



104 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

All schools need such teachers, and the future will supply 
them. Of course the function of the school and the essential 
nature of education will have to be cleared up in the minds of 
parents, teachers, and educational leaders before the ideal 
community can be formed, and thus bring in an era of true 
co-operation among all the various persons that are specially 
interested in the training of the young. But these are 
changes which the logic of a true democratic society sooner or 
later will work out. lycaders, inspirers, and educational 
prophets can hasten these changes. 

The rural school of the future will not only be the sort 
of seminary that has thus far been kept in mind, but it will 
be more and more (4) a Consolidated school. By this it is 
meant that a rural school district more or less extensive will 
co-operate to form one enlarged school at some village or town 
as a centre ; or that two or more smaller districts conveniently 
located therefor will unite to create a central school which 
shall belong mutually to all, and be as good as money, 
thought, skill, sympathy, and co-operation can make it. It 
will be objected by many that the distances are too great for 
any extensive consolidation of rural schools ; that it will 
involve free transportation at public expense ; thereby 
increasing the taxes for school purposes ; that the whole pro- 
cedure is in the direction of socialism or social democracy ; 
that it would rob the rural neighborhood of its only educa- 
tional interest and the most distinctive institution of Ameri- 
can rural life ; that it will be a risky concentration of power 
in the hands of a few ; and finally that it is altogether 
un-American. These objections must be fairly met. It will 
not do to hurry over them as though they were not worthy of 
serious attention. They must be considered so far as possible 
by the statistical and experimental methods. The treatment 
of these questions does not fall within the sphere of this 
study. 

What are the advantages which such a school as the con- 
solidated school at its best would possess? These will be 
enumerated and discussed as follows : (a) The consolid- 
ated school will be as thoroughly graded as the modern city 
school, or the best town school. We may confidently expect 
that it will avoid two evils of the ordinar> lock-step system 
of far too many large cities. The retarding of the brighter 
portion of the school by the requirements of a portion with 
more slowly moving minds, and the over-stimulation of the 
slower pupils so that by all means they may be brought up to 
the final passing grade. To these might be added the over- 
stimulation of the brightest third or fourth of the school with 
the ambition to work for mid -year or extra promotions. The 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 105 

one plan renders the bright child anaemic and nervous, and 
the other, discourages him. The usual treatment of the slow- 
er third or fourth is little short of a crime. An entirely new 
attitude on the significance of grades and examination marks 
may be expected to contribute its share towards the solution 
of the problem. 

Few will deny the advantages of a well graded school 
We have the stimulation, the added interest of large numbers 
doing the same sort of work at the same time. More subjects 
of real value may be taught to each child all through the 
grades. More grades may be added, thus preparing the way 
for the rural school. This is not only what is going to 
happen,— it is now resulting everywhere that consolida- 
tion has been tried for any time. It will not be cut off from 
the chief interests of modern society by an emphasis on mat- 
ters that for years have been looked upon by the masses with 
ever decreasing interest, not to say aversion and distrust 
The classics will be taught, no doubt, in some rural high 
schools, but not until the people say that they desire the 
teaching of such subjects. The most socializing of all insti- 
tutions IS the public school ; and the most socializing and lib- 
eralizing of all public schools, the high school. The rural 
high school thus called into existence and thus molded and 
modeled by the best thought of the country districts ought to 
be as socializing and as liberalizing as the not wholly trusted 
city high school. 

Another great advantage is that the consolidated rural 
school with the rural high school to which consolidation is 
sure to give rise offers the only practicable plan by which 
country children can be prepared cheaply and in large num- 
bers for the higher institutions. Only in this way can the 
great handicap to which the rural child is subjected be re- 
moved, and his chances for all the benefits that come from 
superior education and training be made equal to those of his 
city cousin. Many of our states are now actively at work 
through their departments of public instruction to fill up the 
gaps that separate the college and university from the public 
school. This can never be accomplished so long as " public 
school" means an ungraded rural school, however small the 
attendance and the classes may be. This newer rural school 
will be active in spreading the knowledge of the advantages 
of higher education and training for personal development 
and for all kinds of social service. This will make it as easy 
for the child of the farmer to be prepared for college, the tech- 
nical school, or the university as it now is for the child of the 
city merchant or physician. This will remove the greatest 
intellectual impediment to life in the country. The new rural 



106 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

liigh school will not only remove this objection to rural life, 
but it will at the same time stimulate an ever increasing num- 
ber of country children to go on to college and to other higher 
institutions of learning, and thus bring to bear upon the rural 
problems the light and learning of our great university 
centres. Surely that will be a day worth living for when in 
every corner of rural America there shall be discussed the 
ideals and aims and methods of true university training, and 
in every knot of college students that rural corner shall have 
its representatives. Then will education play a role in'^the 
spiritual development of our country districts that is now not 
even dreamed of. Another point of vital importance in this 
connection is the fact that the families that are least satisfied 
with the educational and cultural advantages which rural 
areas of our land now provide are the ones which the country 
districts can least afford to lose. It is just these people whose 
presence in the country will be sure to secure by agitation and 
influence such improved conditions as these districts need. 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 107 

CHAPTER IX. 
THE RURAi, SCHOOL OF THE FUTURE (Continued) 

In the next place this school will be (b) a well supervised 
school. No matter how well trained and educated the teach- 
ers are, the school will for a long time to come require expert 
supervision. There will not need to be any abrupt break in 
the functions of this official, but there will be a change in the 
conception of his work as time goes on. The first use of ed- 
ucational supervision was to secure the observance of matters 
of outer detail, such as promptness in school attendance, ac- 
curac}^ in official reports and in the interpretation of school 
law ; the second use concerned itself with the observance of 
matters of inner detail, such as minute methods and teaching 
devices, rules for lesson reviews, preparations, and previews ; 
overdrawn exactness in the application of the doctrine of the 
" five formal steps of the recitation " ; and all that pertains to 
securing in the shortest time and with the least expenditure 
of energy what I have elsewhere termed the " memoriter 
appropriation " of our over-filled and over-elaborated course 
of study ; the highest and last function of supervision will be 
that which the future school will exhibit. It will be direct- 
ive ; it will be inspirational ; it will be co-operative ; and it 
will be made effective and prevalent by the same gentle means 
as are employed in other professions and in those industrial 
establishments where skilled leadership has long counted for 
so much. Supervisory power secured by any other means or 
exercised in au)^ other way should be entirely wanting in the 
school of the future in a country which does avowedly, and 
should really, stand for freedom and liberty. 

This functional development of school supervision corres- 
ponds closely to the chronological phases through which it has 
passed, or is destined to pass. There are promising signs of 
an early escape from the perplexities of the second stage, al- 
though in most parts of our country we have not wholly 
emerged from the first stage of supervision. Three changes 
must be brought about before educational supervision can at- 
tain that influence and power which it should exert, and which 
it is destined to exert in the school of the future. First, 
teachers generally must represent a higher stage of culture 
and knowledge, academic and professional ; supervisors must 
be possessed of all these elements in a higher degree than they 
now are, and in addition thereto they must have a background 
of philosophic knowledge. This will demand an acquaintance 
with the history of speculative thought, and in particular so 
far as this centres in the development of the spirit. Then 



108 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

they must have the sociological standpoint and attitude. 
And the masses of the people must be brought to a state of 
mind on all educational matters relatively as advanced as that 
of the teacher and the superintendent. It is easy to see that 
the supervisory officer, possessed of such knowledge and such 
insight into the nature of society and its deepest problems, 
and working through such a body of teachers as is taken for 
granted, will leave the device-methods attitude and seek to 
ground his teachers in the principles involved — that is, he will 
pass from the device stage to the comparatively liberalizing 
stage of philosophical principle. In his relations with his 
teachers he will be a helper and an inspirer. The ancient 
Spartans had an important slate ofl&cial whom they signifi- 
cantly styled an " inspirer of youth." (124) There maybe 
many inspirers in the future civilization of America, but none 
will be better thought of than the men and women whose duty 
it shall be to encourage teachers and children in the great 
work in which the}^ are engaged. If this function of inspira- 
tion was important enough to lead the practical Spartan to 
mark it off as a, specialized work of society, what place should 
it occupy in educational theory in a country in which the chief 
aim is much higher than mere military efiiciency ? To his 
teachers he will point out those sources in literature, history, 
science, and art, from which one must continually draw light 
and knowledge if he would be efficient in the broadest way, if 
he would postpone to the last the advent of that senile state 
of mind in which the easy adaptations of youth are impossible 
and the suspended judgments of virile manhood are unknown. 
If the future school can call into existence an officer that can 
inspire and rejuvenate and encourage those who are, in the 
largest sense, to bear the burdens of an exacting school sys- 
tem he will be doing the greatest service for society. In his 
relations with his pupils he will be a directive, an encouraging, 
a helpful force. He will aid the teacher, and go beyond her 
in leading each young person to the discovery of himself. He 
will be an able counselor in the choice of a vocation. He will 
aid each child to gain the mastery over his environment and 
over himself. 

It will be noted in connection with these broader func- 
tions of the educational leader, that his work does not end 
with the close of the school day. In his social, or extra- 
scholastic, or extra-professional, relations with 'the commun- 
ity his influence upon and his service for it will be greater, if 
possiuie, man in iiis distmctive sphere. For in his broader 
relations he is dealing with those social forces and influences 
which are continuallv molding the school from without. So 
that if the state of the future is to be a cultured state, i. e., 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 109 

a state whose predominant interest is to spread culture and 
learning, understood in their broadest connotation, the mis- 
sion of educational leadership in the future, as will be readily- 
seen, will be a leadership of increasing power and significance 
(126) 

The rural school of the future will have (c) architectural 
and hygenienic features far superior to those of the isolated 
rural school. More money will be available, better immediate 
surroundings can be selected, probably in the outer edge of 
the town or the village, in a natural or a gradually developed 
park. The school-house will be built with due reference to 
proper exposure, having the direct sunlight in every room. 
Its heating, ventilation, water supply, etc., will be planned 
with as much scientific precision as the best office buildings, 
churches, and schools in the most progressive cities now rep- 
resent. Regard will be had to beauty as well as to utility 
Consolidation of smaller schools will make it possible to pro- 
vide at a minimal expense for all those accessories of a mod- 
ern education,— scientific laboratories, physical training rooms, 
an art room, fitted up with simple copies of the great master- 
pieces in painting and statuary. It would be quite possible 
to provide a music room to be supplied with an organ, a piano, 
violins, cornets, a 'cello, a bass viol, and the like. This 
would serve as the nucleus of a school orchestra, and with a 
comparatively short period of training it could play for the 
opening exercises, for the different school gatherings, and 
even for summer picnics if these picnics were of general inter- 
est. This would add to country life some of the culture and 
features of the best city life, and nothing here suggested is 
beyond the range of a progressive community. Then, too, 
there ought to be a shop which would answer every purpose of 
a manual training department, and might be more inviting to 
the country boy or girl if so named. Here these young people 
would be brought into contact with the problems of actual 
construction, involving accurately co-ordinated muscular 
movement, and requiring a trained eye, a steady hand, a keen 
intellect, and, above all else, lively, inventive insight. 

Another advantage possessed by the rural school here 
conceived will be (d) its experimental contact under trained 
agricultural leadership with the various phases and problems 
of farming. The trend of this expenmental study should take 
its departure from the character and needs of each particular 
locality. There will be a foundation of knowledge which is 
prerequisite for any sort of life; and then the demands of 
each locality as determined by its chief occupations will give 
rise to the higher course of study best adapted to the needs of 
that community. In order that this latter study may be of 



110 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

true scientific value it must be in the form of experiments 
performed under conditions that can be controlled and min- 
utely described. This will make it possible for the first ex- 
perimenter to repeat them and for other scientivSts to perform 
them under like conditions. Otherwise all this experimenting 
might be performed by each student on his father p farm. 
Gardening, fruit-raising (large and small), grain farming, 
grazing, dairying, etc., should be part of the course 
of study in the upper grades of the gramn)ar school 
and in the high school in all communit'es where these 
special industries are important. In so far as possible this 
study should be in field, orchard, dairy, and truck-patch. It 
will be quite possible to get rural districts to set aside land 
enough for the purposes above named and to put it in good 
condition. Such a farm on which half of the work might be 
done by the advanced students of those subjects, could be 
made to produce a fair return on the investment, for the work 
could be carried on in accordance with the most approved 
methods, as well as in accordance with the demands of a wise 
economy, scientific result and educational benefit upon the 
whole community. This would give us the combined benefits 
of the present school garden and the agricultural experiment 
station — the interest of child's play added to the profit of in- 
telligent adult activity. This blending of the intellectual, the 
manual, and the industrial would give us much of the best 
that is pictured to us as the contribution of the most promis- 
ing schools of our day — those experiment stations of educa- 
tion, Abbotsholme, Iv'Ecole des Roches, Dr. Lietz's School in 
the Hartz Mountains, Mr. Badley's School at Petersfield, and 
Mr. Devine's at Clayesmore. (127) We should then have 
a school and a system of education which by the most prog- 
ressive and inspired minds have been held up to us as ideals — 
a harmonious education of head and hand and heart acquired 
in the midst of beautiful natural scenery where one is exempt 
from those baneful influences which everywhere mark crowded 
city life. And yet this rural school, if it is to approach to 
ideal conditions must not be without the sharpening of the 
intellect, that refinement of manners and bearing that gentle- 
manly polish which almost from the dawn of history have 
been attributed to city life. Such was the ideal of Goethe 
when in the U'a7iderjahre of Wilhelni Meisterha describes the 
Pedagogic Province, (126) Here we cannot help but note 
with what a master hand he has laid under tribute country 
life, air and freedom ; art, which is more particularly an urban 
product; literature with the dramatic treatment of events and 
scenes ; the languages, learned under the pressure of a pow- 
erful motive ; and country occupations and amusements in 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 111 

order that he might give us this delightful foreglean of what 
opportunities the country really affords for an ideal education. 
To this we shall have to add one supplemental lesson, viz. ^ 
that outlay for the culture of men and women and children is 
a better permanent investment than our far greater putlay for 
fine cattle, for horses, for fine landscapes, beautiful homes, 
fine vehicles and expensive menus. 

4. The next major division of the subject concerns 
itself with the teacher of the rural school of the future. Our 
studies in the earlier chapters and in the middle of the present 
one furnish us the groundwork for a conception of what this^ 
teacher should be. I think we have sufficient ground for the 
statement that the teachers in the rural school of the 
future will be more and more college graduates, or those who 
have a substantial equivalent therefor. The present trend in 
the curricula of our colleges and universities warrants us in 
the belief that this will stand for a splendid general education 
and a more detailed acquaintance with some particular field of 
human research. He will, of course, be a professionally train- 
ed man or woman, and this part of his equipment he may 
secure either at the same institution or in a superior normal 
school of which we shall probably have many in the future.. 
His education will give him acquaintance with the maiik 
epochs in the history of culture and the development of spec- 
ulative thought. Under this will be included the history ot 
education both on its theoretical, or Utopian side, and on its 
practical side which concerns itself with real systems and the 
work of actual educators. He must be equipped, further, 
with a knowledge of the fundamental teachings of psychol- 
ogy ; and with the chief forms of social institutions and social 
forces and social reactions. This is not a visionary scheme, 
but rather a resumi of what the leading writers on educational 
matters so far as the preparation of teachers is concerned , are 
now holding up before uf — in fact what the best superintend- 
ents are now demanding of applicants for high school positions, 
and for supervisory positions of all kinds, wheoi 
they can make these demands effective. This does, 
not presuppose a term of professional preparation, 
out of all proportion to that which is demanded in other pro- 
fessions, and it will not be out of all proportion to the salary 
paid. It may not be a severer requirement than we now 
make of the physician and the lawyer in the largest cities, or 
of the minister in the largest churches. There is a growing 
tendency in the preparation of the minister to place a new 
and increasing emphasis upon psychological, sociological, 
and pedagogical study, to give the young clergyman, if 
nothing else, a right attitude toward his problems and towards. 



112 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

the people met in masses ; and to give him a background and 
a basis for his work of philanthropy, social reform, or relig- 
ious education and evangelization. The teacher's need is not 
less for this sort of background and insight. 

There is one qualification for which I should expect the 
patrons of the rural school of the future to be especially 
insistent, — viz., sympathy with country life, country affairs, 
aims, and interests. This should not be a sentimental sym- 
pathy, but an intelligent one, a sympathy based on knowl- 
edge and insight. To this end I think it would be a good 
thing for the teacher in such a school to be in possession or 
control af a sufficient area of land to occupy a part of his rec- 
reation hours, as much of them as he might care to use in 
that way. There is no over-estimating the value of such 
extra-professional employment on the part of the rural school 
teacher for bringing him into rapport with his students and 
with the whole rural community. There can be no doubt 
that this was one strong bond of union between Christian 
ministers of an earlier day and their congregations. Most of 
them had as a perquisite of their position a small area of 
ground on which they raised the vegetables necessary for 
family use, and often enough corn and hay to feed the horse 
and cow. All this put the clergyman and his family into the 
closest touch with their parishioners, for it built up communi- 
ty of interest and sympathy. It paved the way for more 
pleasant and profitable pastoral visits because of this common 
interest and the common point of contact. 

At this point it is necessary to point out a grave danger, 
which is that the minister or the rural teacher, instead of 
making it purely recreative, might become so much engrossed 
in his avocation as to have it encroach seriously upon the time 
and energy and freshness and interest which ought in all fair- 
ness to be reserved for the attainment of vocational ends — 
chiefly vocational efficiency and effective social service. It 
would seem that the highest possible end of such petty land 
culture as is here contemplated would be attained if there 
were a blending, in about equal proportions, of the recreative, 
the aesthetic, and the utilitarian elements. 

5. The final topic of this chapter concerns itself with the 
schoolhouse in all its parts and the extra-scholastic uses to 
which it will be put, when the rural school shall have reached 
its period of fullest development. The location and site most 
suitable for this school have been briefly pointed out in pre- 
vious connections. A location and a site that would be rec- 
ommended to the most wealthy citizen of the community 
would be good enough for the rural school of the future. 
For, as Goethe says, " the best is good enough for children." 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 113 

The best site available in each community is not too good for 
this purpose. In the ornamentation of the grounds, the best 
features now followed in the best schools of our day are not 
better than each community ought to be inspired to provide 
for the grounds of its school. As yet we have not worked 
out the psychology of natural environment in a scheme of 
general education. Only a few great leaders such as Goethe 
and Froebel have had any adequate appreciation of its value ; 
and only a few practical school men have realized their impor- 
tance and selected their school location accordingly. As yet 
all these schools are private. 

The school building of the future rural school will be 
provided with features of which we can now probably imagine 
only a part. In the first place it will be provided with an 
assembly hall and all the appurtenances belonging thereto. 
This will be used for purposes, many and various. Among 
the more suggestive uses of this hall are the following : Illus- 
trated lectures on science, on travels, on art, on agricultural 
problems and studies ; musical concerts by local and imported 
talent ; the Grange meetings of the neighborhood ; the Bible, 
or Sunday School of the community ; choral unions, or singing 
societies ; the regular opening exercises of all the rooms ; as a 
music room to be used for private or class instruction after 
school or on Saturdays ; school board meetings to be attended 
by all who desire ; neighborhood meetings of all descriptions, 
whether social, intellectual, or cultural ; farmers' institutes 
and congresses ; receptions under many auspices, only provid- 
ing that sectarian and political animosities and hatreds shall 
never be the possible results of any such gatherings ; school 
receptions of all kinds. The benefits of all such meetings to 
a rural community are so evident upon first glance as to re- 
quire no discussion in this connection. Such functions, 
generally participated in by the people of a community would 
indicate one of the two things : first, that the community was 
an ideal community from the standpoint of intelligence and 
social development, or that it was destined in the nature of 
the case speedily to become an ideal community in these 
respects. 

Another important adjunct of the future rural school will 
be the school library. This could be housed either in one of 
the small rooms near the assembly room or in a larger room 
still more convenient of access. But it would be a mistake 
not to have the books of the library in the closest possible 
touch with the school and all the work of the school. The 
library should be carefully catalogued so as to show at a glance 
what it contains on any given subject, and this catalogue 
should contain the most important magazine articles on those 



114 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

subjectvS which are of the most interest to the citizens of a 
rural community. If put into good running order by one 
thoroughly familiar with library economy, the children could 
be led to co-operate in the control of the library and to do a 
large part of the work connecting with the issuance and care 
of the books. 

Real talent is needed to select the sort of books that will 
best suit the wants of the community and at the same time 
not run the costs up higher than the resources will allow. As 
time goes on we shall have an increasing number of suggest- 
ive lists for such libraries. In fact we have some valuable 
suggestions of this sort now. What is said here will be of a 
general nature, and should be read in connection with the 
lists of books for such uses, which various state and county 
superintendents have been preparing and publishing for some 
time. It would seem that the core of the library should com- 
prise the classics of all literatures, made accessible by the best 
translations if not originally written in English. Among 
these would fall the epic poems ; the chief dramatic works 
from those of ^schylus to those of Stephen Phillips ; the 
lesser poets and the historians ; the best of those writers 
whose work concerns itself with science and nature ; histori- 
cal books on the great cultural peoples whose mission it has 
been to give us either the seed thoughts of our civilization or 
the form of it ; works on those sciences that are contributory 
to the science of agriculture, such as physics, chemistry, bot- 
any, and geology ; works on physiology, anatomy, biology, 
and the chemistry of foods ; books on all phases of agricul- 
ture, such as those found in the Country Home Library, and 
similar collections; an ample assortment on biography', always 
including the greatest Americans ; a collection on government 
and the state, its nature, functions and duties under a demo- 
cratic regime ; a small number on the leading municipal 
problems ; works on economics and sociology in so far as 
these subjects are adapted to schools of this grade ; treatises 
on the fine arts ; magazines and periodicals none being taken 
that are not worth binding and keeping ; general reference 
books, such as dictionaries, encyclopaedias, atlases and gazet- 
teers. A few books of purely compiled contents may be al- 
lowed, but many books of this description will give the library 
the air of superficiality and cheapness. It is a great shame 
that in so many public school libraries these books take the 
place of complete works in the exact language of the masters 
of style. For the purposes of a rural school library it is not 
necessary that the books should be expensive editions, when 
there are so many cheap editions that are quite well gotten up 
and legibly printed. If the funds really warrant such choice. 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 115 

of course the better editions are to be preferred. If a school 
committee had, say, $ioo with which to begin the library of 
a rural school, it would be much better to spend a large part 
of it for the cheap editions that would constitute a richer 
collection of books than to put nearly all of it in expensive 
editions, which would give the library such limited propor- 
tions for a whole year. Nearly all the great classics are avail- 
able in editions ranging in cost from ten cents to a dollar. 
Many of the shorter classics can be had still cheaper in 
pamphlet form, with good paper and printing, and housed in 
pamphlet boxes made for that purpose. This I have seen 
done very successfully, where the cataloguing and shelf- 
marking were carefully and thoroughly done. In science, 
history, biography, art, and current literature good standard 
library editions have to be purchased. Such a library as is 
l\ere kept in mind, varying from looo to 1500 books and 
pamphlets, I have, with the assistance of efficient committees, 
several times selected, housed, and catalogued according to 
the latest methods for such small libraries, and put them into 
successful operation at an expense varying from $300 to $500. 
As soon as serious work in the foreign languages is attempted 
in the rural high school, there should be added to the library 
a few well chosen texts, masterpieces, and dictionaries for 
each language that is taught, together with histories and rel- 
iable studies of the several peoples where language is studied. 
It helps to create the atmosphere of the given language. 

If one more word were to be added on the question of 
the relation between the school work and the library, which 
is a very important one. it would be this. Too much atten- 
tion can not be called to the necessity of learning to u-se books 
of general reference quickly, accurately, and in a manner ef- 
fective for the purpose in hand. The general helplessness of 
pupils of high school grade in the presence of a large number 
of books is a sad commentary on tlie character of our work in 
the library department. If part of the time now spent in the 
solution of extra problems — of " riders" — in mathematics or 
the mathematical sciences — were set aside for the right kind 
of drill in the proper use of the school library, the pupils 
would have a better return for their expenditure of time and 
energy.^ Discipline is not to be despised, even when it is 
gained in the pursuit of purely theoretical problems ; but one 
may gain discipline at the same time that he is working out 
matters of immediate practical interest. 

Another feature of the future rural school will be its close 
connection with the library system of the state in which it is 
located, through the circulating library department. This is 
now a regular department of the educational work of a rapid- 



116 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

ly increasing number of our states. This brings even the 
ungraded rural school into potential touch with the latest and 
best in all kinds of books. What can be done through this 
department of library work for the rural school when consoli- 
dation shall have done its work, and thus rendered it possible 
for each centre asking for the loan of books from the free 
traveling library department to give out an increasing number 
of books ? This would be a double improvement ; it would 
enrich the library work in each borrowing school by making 
it possible to get a larger assortment, and it would make it 
possible for state authorities to keep up with the latest and 
best things in their purchases of books by making it unneces- 
sary to purchase so many multiple copies of certain standard 
works. With the extension of such educational auxiliaries to 
these rural centres, university extension work could be carried 
on as successfully in the country districts as it is now in 
cities, unless it should be in the one item of comparative inac- 
cessibility for the great lecturers who must cover great dis- 
tances in the shortest time. There would be no other draw- 
back unless it were the long distances the farmers would have 
to travel to reach the rural school centre. The rapid exten- 
sion of the trolley railway will do away with this and other 
inconveniences which are now incident to life in the country. 

Still another adjunct of the future rural school will be the 
art room with its art collection. This can be supplied with 
reproductions of paintings and sculpture, of different grades 
and varieties, at prices within the limit of legitimate expendi- 
ture for the enrichment of rural school art. Some busts and 
small statuary could be included in the collection, but most of 
the money should go for copies of famous paintings, pictures 
of famous statuary and of the world's greatest architecture. 
These ma)'' all be arranged according to schools of art, or 
countries, or in chronological order. Of many or all of these, 
slides should be made or secured so that this rich material 
could be used for occasional lectures and talks in the assembly 
room. The invention of the reflectoscope makes it possible to 
use in this way pictures found in books, in magazines, or in 
old catalogues. Collections of pictures from discarded maga- 
zines and old books can be accumulated and kept in reserve 
for such uses, while the good small reproductions of the great 
masterpieces may be used in the same way. Thus the realm 
of art in two of its most universal forms can be brought into 
close touch with every-day country life and thought. 

Besides all this, at a small expense required to make it 
possible to convert the assembly room into a dark room even 
by day, this whole mass of material could be made to contrib- 
ute its light upon the daily school work in literature, science, 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 117 

history, and art. If the stereopticon is a necessary adjunct of 
the best city high and grammar schools it is even more so in 
the work of the corresponding schools in the country. No 
one change that could be made in the rural school would 
wholly redeem the country child from the dreary round of un- 
profitable, cheerless, and uninspiring school room " learning 
and reciting," but one great need is just such a contact with 
the great world of creative art in its varied forms as this use 
of the stereopticon and reflectoscope would give. 

In the last place there will be a properly equipped school 
kitchen in connection with every up-to-date rural consolidated 
school. The purposes of this department of future rural 
school development will be in part as follows : ( i ) occasional 
demonstrations and conferences in the science and art of cook- 
ing ; (2) more practical, regular, and methodically progressive, 
work in this branch of domestic economy, for the girls of 
grammar and high school grades ; (3) purposes still more 
practical on reception occasions, at the social gatherings of the 
community ; (4) to serve lunches and so on for attendants on 
gatherings lasting several sessions, as farmers' institutes, and 
educational meetings, if these are ever held separately in those 
days when the rural school shall have become an institution 
of splendid efficiency. 



118 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

Reference List 

The following are the books, articles, reports, studies, etc., to 

which reference is made in the foregoing chapters : 

( 1) Boston University Catalogue, 1898-'9. Announcement of 
Work in Latin. 

( 2) M. V. O'Shea: Education as Adjustment, pp. 42 et seq. 
Nev/ York, 1903. A good book from an entirely modern 
point of view in education. 

( 3) G. T. Fairchild: Rural Wealth and Welfare, p. 17, Mac- 
millan Co., New York. 

( 4) Contemporary files of the Rural Register, Baltimore; ditto of 
the Scientific American and of other magazines and papers. 

( 5) Mrs. B. Bosanquet: The Standard of Life and Other Studies, 
p. 31. MacMillan Co., London. Reports of the Massachu- 
setts Bureau of Labor Statistics, Vol. I, pp. 118 et seq. 

( 6) Alfred Marshall: Principles of Political Economy, Vol. I, 
p. 777. MacMillan Co., London. 

( 7) J. M. Baldwin: Handbook of Psychology, Senses and Intel- 
lect, p. 192. Holt & Co., New York. Mental Development, 
Chs. VI, X, XI, XII. MacMillann, N. Y. Social and 
Ethical Interpretations, Chs. I, II, XIII. MacMillan Co., 
New Yoi'k. 
Boris Sidis: Psychology of Suggestion, Chs. I-V. Apple- 
ton & Co., New York. 

(8) New Intel-national Encyclopedia, siib verbis, "Patrons of 
Husbandry." 

( 9) C. S. Walker: Annals of the American Academy of Political 
and Social Science, Vol. IV, pp. 790 et seq. 
M. G. Tarde: Lois de L' Imitation. Paris, 1890. Social 
Laws. New York, 1898. 

(10) Florence J. Foster : The same volume as above, pp. 798 et seq. 
(ll'> D. J. Crosby: Organization and Work of Agric. Exper. Sta- 
tions in the United States, pp. 22, 23. U. S. Dept. of 
Agriculture. 

(12) True and Crosby: American System of Agricultural Educa- 

tion, p. 5. U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

(13) Crosby: Special and Short Courses in American Colleges, 

p. 7. U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

(14) A. C. True: Progress of Agricultural Education, 1903, p. 

571. U. S. Deot. of Agriculture. 

(15) A. C. True: The same work, p. 572. 

(16) Hamilton: The Farmers' Institute in the United States, 

1903, pp. 686-687. U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

(17) The Brov/nsville (Pa.) Weekly Monitor, March 3, 1905. 

(18) J. S. Mill: Principles of Political Economy, Bk. II, Chs. VI-X. 

Longmans. 
(19'^ Commercial Gazette, Pittsburgh, Pa., Jan. 19, 1905. 

(20) J. S. Mill: Principles of Political Economy, Bk. I, Ch. XII. 

(21) F. H. Giddings: Principles of Sociology, pp. 203-307. Mac- 

Millan. 
G. S. Hall: Adolescence, Vol. II, pp. 430-432. Appleton. 
William James: Principles of Psychology, Vol. II, pp. 430- 

432. Holt & Co. 

(22) James: Op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 429-430. 

(23) G. T. Nesmyth: The Problem of the Rural Comm,unity, with 

Special Reference to the Rural Church in America, in 
American Journal of Sociology, Vol. VIII, pp. 812 et seq.; 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 119 

Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics, Reports Vol I 
p. 34; Vol. II, p. 30 and p. 160. 
^^^%s- Principles of Psychology, Vol. II, pp. 408, 409, 422, 
425, 439. rr , , , 

i^i} ^enry Barnard: Journal of Education, Vol. XXIV, p 225 

(25) Same work and volume, p. 228. 

(26) Clifton Johnson: Old-Time Schools and School Books, p. 36 

Appleton. 

(27) Wickersham: History of Education in Pennsylvania, Ch. IX 

on the Schools of our Forefathers. Lancaster, Pa In- 
quirer Pub. Co., 1885. 

(28) A. P. Marble: Sanitary Conditions for Schoolhouses, p. 7. 
/onx Cir. of Inf., No. 3, 1891. U. S. Bureau of Education. 

(29) Walter Sargent: Evolution of the Little Red Schoolhouse, in 

School Review, Vol. XI, p. 436. 

(30) W. T. Harris: What Shall the Public Schools Teach? in 

Educational Review, Vol. IV, p. 578. 

(31) Qt. Journal of Economics, Vol. IV, p. 408; Larouse's Dic- 

twnaire Universelle; and the best Encyclopedias on the 
.„ li^e and work of this truly great scientist, Le Play. 

(o2) J. H. U. : Studies in Historical and Political Science, 11th 

Series, Nos. VII- VIII. 

(33) John Dewey: Are the Schools Doing What the People Want 

Them to Do? in the Educational Review, Vol. IV, p. 473. 

(34) Report U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1888-1889, Vol. 1. 

p. 150. ' 

(35) Levi Seeley: The German School System, pn. 91-99. E. L. 

Kellogg & Co., New York. 

(36) Report U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1888-'9, Vol. I. 

p. 59. > , , 

(37) J. M. Rice: The Futility of the Spelling Grind, Forum, Vol. 

XXIII, p. 163 and p. 408. 

(38) O. P. Cornman: Spelling in the Elementary Schools. Ginn 

& Co., Boston. 

(39) Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1888-'9, Vol. I. 

p. 60. ' , , 

(40) Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1902, Vol. I, 

pp. XII, LXXVII. 

(41) Seeley: Op. cit., p. 158. 

(42) Same work, p. 61. 

(43) Same work, p. 164. 

(44) Same work, pp. 157-158. 

(45) Report U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1894-'5, Vol. I, 

p. 381. 

(46) Report U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1901, Vol. I, p. 33. 

(47) Seeley: German School System, p. 57. 

(48) Pennsylvania School Report, 1903, p. 751. 

(48a) Census Statistics of Teachers, Dept. of Commerce and 
Labor, U. S. Bureau of the Census, 1905, p. 13. 

(49) Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 188S-'9, Vol. 1, 

p. 37. 

(50) Same work, p. 39. 

(51) Same work, p. 43. 

(52) Same work, p. 44. 

(53) Same work, p. 71. 

(54) Jas. E. Russell: The German Higher Schools, pp. 410,411. 

Longmans, New York. Cf. also F. E. Bolton: The Sec- 
ondary School System of Germanny, Ch. II. Appleton. 



120 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

Levi Seeley : The German School System, Chs. XX-XXVI. 
E. L. Kellogg & Co. 

(55) New Jersey School Report, 1903, pp. XV, XVIL 

(56) Indiana School Report, 1902, p. 727. 

(57) New York School Report, 1903, XCVI. 

(58) Indiana School Report, 1902, pp. 658-666. 

(59) Vernon L. Davey: Course of Study for the Schools of East 

Orange, N. J., 1902, p. 152. 

(60) G. I. Goodrich: Course of Study for the Schools of Brookline, 

Mass., 1903, p. 40. 

(61) Randall Spaulding: Course of Study, Montclair, N. J., 1903, 

pp. 60-69. 

(62) J. W. Carr: Manual of the Anderson (Ind.) Public Schools, 

1901, pp. 6-12. 
John Dietrich: Report of the Board of Education and Out- 
line of the Course of Study, Colorado Springs, Colo., 1902, 
pp. 155-161. Course of Study for the Common Schools of 
Illinois, Third General Revision, pp. 161-166. 

(63) C. P. Carey: Manual of Elementary Course of Study, Wis- 

consin, 1904, pp. 152-153. 

(64) New York School Report, 1902, pp. XCVI-XCVII. 

(65) Indiana School Report, 1902, pp. 251, 255, 259, 293. 

(66) Missouri School Report, 1903, p. 3. 

(67) Same work, pp. 238,284. 

(68) Report U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1902, Vol. I, p. 

LXXVIII. 

(69) Report of the Committee of Twelve, p. 14. University of 

Chicago Press. 

(70) Same work, p. 61. 

(71) New Jersey School Report, 1903, p. XXIV. 

(72) Same work, p. XXV. 

(73) Same work, p. XXVI. 

(74) New York School Report, 1903, p. 118. 

(75) Michigan School Report, 1903, p. 194. 

(76) Maine School Report, 1903, p. 154. 

(77) Iowa School Report, 1903, pp. 14, 83, of "Statistics." 

(78) Missouri School Report, 1903, p. 3. 

(79) Pennsylvania School Report, 1903, p. 750. 

(80) Same work, p. 756. 

(81) Missouri School Report, 1903, p. 3. 

(82) Michigan School Report, 1902, p. 172. 

(83) Wisconsin School Report, 1901-'2, pp. 2, 20, "Statistical 

Tables." 

(84) Report of the Committee of Twelve, p. 15. University of 

Chicago Press. 

(85) Michigan School Report, 1903, p. 186. 

(86) New York School Report, 1903, p. XCVI. 

(87) Wisconsin School Report, 1901-'2, p. 6. 

(88) Iowa School Report, 1903, pp. 188,189. 

(89) W. W. Stetson: A Study of Our Public School System, etc., 

p. 7. Educational Dept., Maine. Augusta, Me. 

(90) Consolidation of Schools, University of Illinois Bulletin, 

Vol. I, No. 10. Urbana, 111., 1904. 

(91) W. K. Flower: Consolidation of School Districts, pp. 26, 

27,28. Lincoln, Neb., 1903. 

(92) J. S. Mill: Principles of Political Economy, Bk. II, 

Ch. XV, §1. 

(93) Report of the Committee of Twelve, p. 55. 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 121 

(94) Pennsylvania School Report, 1903, "Statistical Statements." 

pp. 17, 90-111. ' 

(95) A. S. Draper: Supervision of the Country Schools, in the 

School Bulletin, Dec, 1904, p. 63. Syracuse N Y 

(96) Georgia School Report, 1903, pp. 34, 35. ' • • 

(97) Course of Study for the Common Schools of Illinois, Third 

General Revision, 1903. 

(98) Course of Study for the Common Schools of Kansas, 1904 

pp. 5-10. ' 

(99) State Manual and Course of Study for the District Schools 

of Michigan, Sixth Edition, 1903. 

(100) Course of Study, South Carolina, 1901, throughout. 

(101) A Manual and Graded Course of Study of Primary Instruc- 

tion for the Country and Village Schools of W. Va . 3rd 
Ed., 1904, throughout. 

(102) Hand-Book for Iowa Schools, 1900, pp. 66 et sea 

(103) Reference (98), pp. 42 et seq. 

(104) Reference (99), p. 70. 

(105) Elementary Course of Study, etc., for New York 1903 

pp. 9-13. Albany. ' ' 

(106) * * * Elementary Course of Study * * *, Wisconsin 1904 

pp. 24,26. ' 

(107) G. H. Wilson: Course of Study for the Schools of Radnor 

Township, Delaware Co., Pa. (P. 0., Wayne.) 

(108) Second Biennial Report of the Kansas Traveling Libraries 

Commission, 1901-'2, pp. 1-7. Topeka, Kansas. 
(110) School Libraries — Law, List, Rules and Suggestions, for 
South Carolina, 1904. 

(110) Reference (101), p. 38. 

(111) New Jersey School Law, 1903, pp. 78, 79. 

(112) Partial List of references on the subject of Consolidation 

and Free Transportation: 
The Consolidation of Schools, etc., University of Illinois 
Bulletin, Vol. I, No. 10. Urbana, 111., 1904. 48 pp. 

The Consolidation of School Districts, etc., W. K. Flower, 
State Supt. Public Instruction, Lincoln, Neb., 1903. 32 pp! 

Consolidation of Districts and Transportation of Children, 
R. C. Barrett, State Supt., Des Moines, la. (Ch. II of 
the Bien. School Report for period ending Sept. 30, 
1901.) 69 pp. 

Iowa School Report for period ending Sept. 30, 1903, Ch. 
VII. 38 pp. 

J. F. Rigg: Conditions and Needs of Iowa Rural Schools, 
Des Moines, la., 1905. 81 pp. 

J. W._ Olsen: Consolidation of Rural Schools and Transpor- 
tation of Pupils at Public Expense, reprint from Minn. 
Biennial School Report for 1902, with additions. 34 pp. 

Bedichek and Baskett: The Consolidation of Rural Schools 
with and without Transportation: Bulletin of the Uni- 
versity of Texas, 1904. Austin, Texas. 38 pp. 

Western Journal of Education, June," 1903. San Francisco. 
"This is a special number devoted to the consolidation of 
schools, and gives an exceptionally good collection of re- 
ports and articles on this subject." 

Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1902, Vol. 
II, pp. 2353-2369. "This article contains a brief list of the 
best State reports on consolidation, together with selected 
quotations and other information." 16 pp. 

Proceedings and Addresses of the Nat. Educ. Asso., 1903, 



122 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

pp. 919-935. "The first of the two articles in the volume 

contains a very full bibliography of the subject." 16 pp. 
Same work, 1904, pp. 313-319; Consolidation of Schools, an 

address by J. Y. Joyner, State Supt., North Carolina. 7 pp. 
An Inquiry Concerning Conveyance of Scholars in New 

Hampshire, from the 51st N. H. School Report, 1899-1900, 

pp. 271-292. Channing Folsom, State Supt. of Schools. 

21 pp. 
A. A. Upham: Transportation of School Children at Public 

Expense, Educ. Rev., Vol. XX, pp. 241 et seq. 

(113) Report of the Committee of Twelve, p. 61. 

(114) On the Importance, Need and Difficulties of School Super- 

vision see: 

W. E. Chancellor: Our Schools, Their Administration and 
Supervision, D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1904, Ch. IV, on 
Supervision, and Ch. XIV, on Education for Supervision. 
This is our best book on the subject with which it deals. 
The author's conception of the function of the Superinten- 
dent, and what it takes to equip him adequately, is both 
discouraging and inspiring, depending upon one's mood 
and view-point. Perhaps for that very reason it is all the 
more likely to be a helpful book. 

J. L. Pickard: School Supervision, Editor's Preface by W. T. 
Harris, and Chs. Ill, V, IX, XII, XVI, XVII. Appleton 
& Co., N. Y. 

Report U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1902, Vol. I, pp. 
556-560. 

Same work, 1901, Vol. I, pp. 1016-1017. On Expert Super- 
vision Needed for Country Districts (in the South). 

A. W. Edson : Leadership in the School Superintendent, Edu- 
cation, Vol. 24, pp. 65 et seq. 

J. T. Prince: Evolution of School Supervision, Educ. Rev., 
Vol. XXII, pp. 148 et sea. 

Levi Seeley: A New School Management, New York, 1903, 
pp. 161-178. 

Ruric Nevel Roark: Economy in Education, New York, 1905, 
pp. 128-133, et passim. 

Terman: The Psychology and Pedagogy of Leadership, 
Ped. Sem., Vol. II, pp. 413 et seq., bears on the problem 
indirectly. 

(115) Chas. A. McMurry: Course of Study in the Eight Grades, 

Vol. I, Grades I to IV, 1906; Vol. II, Grades V to VIII, 
1906. MacMillan, N. Y. Vol. I, Preface and pp. 1-52; 
Vol. II, pp. 1-27. 

J. A. H. Keith: Elementary Education, Its Problems and 
Processes, pp. 104-107. Chicago, 1906. 

W. E. Chancellor: Our Schools, etc. Ch. XII, The New Edu- 
cation and the Course of Study. Boston, 1904. 

R. N. Roark: Economy in Education, N. Y., 1905. Gives a 
broad discussion of the curriculum, pp. 171-228. 

J. R. Crowell: Course of Study in the Elementary Schools 
of the U. S., Ped. Sem., Vol. IV, pp. 294 et seq. 

H. H. Seerley: Curriculum, for the Public Schools, Ed. Rev., 
Vol. XXVII, pp. 179 et seq. A strong article. 

F. M. McMurry: Advisable Omissions from the Elementary 
Curriculum, and the Basis for Them, Ed. Rev., Vol. XXVII, 
pp. 478 et seq. Another excellent discussion. 

W. F. Edwards: Changes in the Course of Study, Gunton's 



THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 123 

Mag., Vol. XVII, pp. 491 et seq. 
G. Stanley Hall : The Ideal School as Based on Child Study, 
Forum, Vol. XXXII, pp. 24-39. Bears more or less directly 
upon the curriculum, proposing a sort of philosophy for a 
rational course of study based on the results of Child 
Study. 

(116) Chas. A. McMurry: Special Method in the Reading of Com- 

plete English Classics. MacMillan Co., 1903. Chs. I, II, 

VI, and throughout. This is the most helpful single refer- 
ence for those who are seeking light on this important 

subject. It has a valuable list of books occupying some 

30 pages. 
J. G. Gayley : The Classics for Children, Ped. Sem., Vol. Ill, 

pp. 342 et seq. 
Clark Wissler: Interest of the Child in the Reading Work 

of the Elementary School, Ped. Sem., Vol. V, pp. 523 et seq. 
Geo. Griffith: Course of Reading for Children, Ed. Rev., 

Vol. XXVII, pp., 65 et seq. 
Ezra Allen: The Pedagogy of Myths in the Grades, Ped. 

Sem., Vol. VIII, pp. 258 et seq. 
H. E. Scudder: Literature in the School, Riv. Lit. Ser., No. 

37, Extra D. 
J. D. Logan: Source and Aesthetic Values of Permanency 

in Art and Literature, Philos. R&v., Vol X, pp. 36 et seq. 
S. A. Underwood: The Spiritual in Literature, Arena, Vol. 

XXV, pp. 36 et seq. 
C. Vostroosky: Children's Tastes in Reading, Ped. Sem., 

Vol. VI, pp. 523 et seq. 
J. C. Dana: Reading for Children, Libr. Journal, Vol. XXII, 

pp- 187 et seq. 
WT C. Lane: Importance of * * * for Children, N. Church 

Rev., Vol. IV, pp. 424 et seq. (Jl.) 
H. W. Mabie: Lit. as a Resource, Chaut., Vol. XXII, pp. 65 

et seq. (0.) 
Miss Schreiber: Lit. in the Grades Below the High School, 

Proceedings and Addresses of the N. E. A., 1901, p. 288. 

Very good. 

(117) M. G. Bri^mbaugh: The Making of a Teacher, Philadelphia, 

1905. Chs. II, VI; and pp. 5, 18-19, 145. It is a claim of 
this helpful book that the teacher can and must be made. 
We cannot wait for him to be born. To make and inspire 
the teacher will be the greatest function of the superin- 
tendent in the early future. 

(118) J. M. Baldwin: Soc. and Ethic. Interprets, in Ment. Devel, 

p. 100. See also Chs. Ill, IV, XIII, XIV, et pas., for our 
best treatment of this subject, which is of vital interest 
to educational thinkers. N. Y., 1902, 3rd Ed. 

Miss E. M. Haskell: Imitation in Children, Ped. Sem., Vol. 
Ill, pp. 30 et seq. 

M. H. Small : Suggestibility of Children, Ped. Sem., Vol. IV, 
pp. 176 et seq. 

Caroline Frear : Imitation, Ped. Sem., Vol. IV, pp. 382 et seq. 

M. G. Tarde: As in reference (7). 

(119) Cf. P. H. Hanus: Educational /iims and Educational 

Values, p. 45. MacMillan & Co., N. Y., 1899. 

(120) Report of Proceedings and Addresses, N. E. A., 1903, pp. 

241-247. President Eliot on the full utilization of a school 
plant. 



124 THE RURAL SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 

(121) Cf. P. H. Hanus: A Modern School, p. 9. MacMillan & Co., 

New York, 1904. 

(122) Op. cit., pp. 6, 7. 

(123) Op. cit., p. 26. 

(124) Thos. Davidson: Aristotle, pp. 4:6, 47. Scribner's, New York. 

(125) As a groundwork .for the conception of the cultural 

state, one might read: Plato's Republic, Bks. II, III, 
IV; Aristotle's Politics and his Nicomachean Ethics; J. K. 
Bluntschli's The Theory of the State, especially Ch. IV of 
Bk. V; B. Bosanquet's The Philosophical Theory of the 
State, especially Ch. VII for a splendid treatment of the 
"general will" after the analogy of a mind; McKechnie's 
The State and the Individual; W. W. Willoughby's An 
Examination of the Nature of the State and his Social 
Justice; Wundt's Ethics, Vol. Ill, Part IV, Ch. Ill, Sec- 
tions 3 and 4; .J. H. W. Stuckenberg's Sociology, Vol. II, 
pp. 91-ir.. v/itii Hegel's Rechtsphilosophie (tr. 1896, Lon- 
don) and Philosophy of History, and Montesquieu's Spirit 
of Laws, if one cares to branch out a little further. 

(126) Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, Wanderjahre (tr. by J. Carlyle, 

1826). 

(127) On the spirit which is back of these most promising of 

modern experiments in education one should read Dr. 
Cecil Reddie's book entitled Abbottsholme, together with 
the several appreciations it contains, and M. Edmond 
Demolins' two books, Anglo-Saxon Superiority and L'Ecole 
Nouvelle. Various educational travelers have written in- 
teresting reports of the work at these different schools, 
for which see contemporary educational journals. 

(128) M. V. O'Shea: Dynamic Factors in Education, Part I. 

MacMillan, N. Y., 1906. 

(129) E. P. Powell: The County Home. McClure, Phillips & Co., 

N. Y., 1905. 
Contemporary Review, Vol. LXXXI, pp. 61 et seq. Article 
on the Agricultural Revival, by C. W. Sorensen. Some of 
the Letters of Geo. Washington and many of Thos. Jeffer- 
son; and many publications of our best agricultural col- 
leges should be read to imbue one who needs it with an 
appreciation of country life. 

(130) Cf. Edwin Hatch: hifluence of Greek Ideas and Usages 

Upon the Christian Church (Hilbert Lectures, 1888). Wil- 
liams and Norgate, London, 1904, pp. 116-118. This pas- 
sage is cited as confirmatory of my own conclusion, which 
was reached and written before reading this suggestive 
work. 

(131) Roussean's Social Contract (tr. by R. M. Harrington). 

Putnam's, 1893. Bk. II, Chs. VI and VII. 



INDEX 



Age of teachers in several countries, p. 38. 
Agricultural colleges, pp. 12 seq. 
Agriculture, department of, pp. 12 seq. 
Specialization in agriculture, pp. 12 seq. 
Agrocentric influences, pp. 8-17. 
Architecture, rural, improvements in, p. 16. 
American child less advanced in education, pp. 33 seq. 
Arithmetical instruction in German schools, pp. 32, 33. 
Art room and art collection in rural school, pp. 116-117. 
Assembly hall of future rural school, uses of, pp. 113-116. 
Athens and aristocratic education, pp. 29, 30. 
Atmosphere of future rural school, pp. 103, 104. 
Attitude of the community towards its school, pp. 95, 96. 

B 

Baldwin, J. M., quoted on imitation versus creation, p. 95. 
Brookline, Mass., referred to, p. 44. 



Centralization of rural schools. Table IX, and pp. 79-82. 

Centralized school, the school of the future, pp. 104-111. 

Changes in the common schools, pp. 21 seq. 

Changes in the social and economic conditions of rural communities, 

pp. 8 seq. 
Child study and its significance, p. 6. 
Circulating library of state, p. 115. 
Classification of Prussian school children, p. 30. 
Co-operation as the method of education, pp. 101-102. 
Cornman, Dr. O. P., on spelling, p. 35. 
Cost, per capita, in rural versus city schools, p. 50. 
Country life, value of, p. 98 ; Reference List, (129). 
Country parents, ambition of, p. 19. 
Course of study in several states. Table VII, and pp. 61-69. 

" " , points worthy of notice, pp. 89-96. 

" " , changes in, pp. 22, 23 ; 90, 91. 

" " , in Prussian schools, Table II, and pp. 30-36. 

" " , literature, science, art, etc., p. 94. 

" " , reading matter of, pp. 66-69. 

" " , methods of readaptation, p. 91. 

Course of study, some principles involved, p. 90. 

" " , state and county, how far used, pp. 89, 90. 

" " , use of literary wholes and shorter poems, pp. 92, 93 

" " , urban and rural compared, Table III, and pp. 42-46. 

" " , weakness of on motor and expressive side, pp. 94, 95 

D. 

Dark room in the rural school, pp. 116. 117. 
Debating societies in rural schools, pp. 76, 77. 
Diminishing returns, law of, p. 18. 

Draper, A. S., on imperative need of expert supervision in the rural 
schools of New York, p. 53. 

East Orange, New Jersey, referred to. Table III, and pp. 43-46. 
Economic conditions in rural communities, pp. 8 seq. 
Economic conditions, Mr. Bentley's study, p. 25. 
Educational advancement and leadership, p. 27. 



Educational experiment stations, p. p. 110. 
Evolution in education, p. 27. 

Experimental agriculture in connection with rural school work, pp. 
109, 110. 

F. 

Farmers' institutes, pp. 13, 14. 
Farmers' movement, pp. 11, 12. 
Free rural mail delivery, p. 10. 

G. 

German child ahead of American child of the same age, pp. 33-35. 
German Schools, course of study, pp. 30-34. 
German Schoolmaster, pp. 29 seq. 
German teaching body, pp. 35-40. 
Germany and democratic education, pp. 29, 30. 
Goethe's educational province, p. 110. 

H. 

" Higher economies ", p. 25. 

Hours of labor, economic and social results of reducing, p. 10. 

I- 

Impoverishment of rural districts, p. 20. 
Instinct of activity, of progress, p. 20. 
Instinct of change and curiosity, p. 19. 

L. 

Labor-saving machinery, introduction of, pp. 9 seq. 

Laissez-faire policy in education, p. 27. 

Leadership in education, need of, pp. 7, 27, 28. 

Leisure, demand for, p. 19. 

Length of school term in country and town, pp. 46, 47. 

LePlay's method, p. 25. 

Libraries in schools. Table VIII., and pp. 74, 75. 

Library in school work, pp. 113, 116. 

Life of the home, significance of for education, pp. 24, 25. 

Literary societies in schools, pp. 76, 77. 

Literature, use of in the school, pp. 66, 69. 

M. 

Mail order stores and rural life, p. 17. 
Material equipment of rural and urban schools, pp. 41, 42. 
Metric system, use of in German schools, p. 35. 
Montclair, N. J., use of stories and literature, p. 44. 
Musical instrument, use of in schools. Table VI. and p. 77. 
Music room, p. 109. 

N. 
Narrow measures of some fathers, p. 19. 
National reform press, p. 12. 
Nature study through agriculture, pp. 63 seq. 
Needs must be strongly felt by the community, pp. 95, 96. 
Newspaper and rural life, pp. 10, 11. 
New England type of character, p. 18. 
Neighborhood's attitude towards its school, p. 25. 
Normal schools and rural school teachers, p. 24. 
Normal school graduate looked after in Germany, p. 37. 

P. 

Patrons of Husbandry, pp. 11, 12. 

People's lack of knowledge of self-interest, pp. 27, 28. 

Points of strength and of weakness in rural school, Table XI. 



Prussian common school system, pp. 2940. 

Psychology of natural environment for educational purposes, p. 113, 

Public opinion, low standards on preparation of the teacher, p. 51, 52. 

Q. 
Qualitative method and standards, p. 1. 
Quantitative method and standards, p. 1. 
Quantity of reading matter read in schools, p. 93. 
Questionaire material, notes on, pp. 60, 61. 
Questionaire material, general discussion of, pp. 87-96. 

R. 
Railroads and rural communities, pp. 8, 9. 
Readers versus classics, pp. 91, 94. 
Reading matter in schools, pp. 66, 71. 
Religious training in German schools, pp. 31, 32. 
Rural communties, economic and social conditions of, pp. 8 seq. 
Rural school of to-day and of an earlier day, pp. 21 seq. 
Rural school of America and that of Prussia, pp. 29 seq. 
Rural and city school of America compared, pp. 41 seq. 
Rural school : inductive study, pp, 54 seq. 
Rural school of the future, pp. 97 seq. 
Rural exodus, its causes and meaning, pp. 17 seq. 
Rural type of children, changed, pp. 24, 25. 
Rural school, course of study. See course of study. 

S. 
Salaries of teachers, Table V., and pp. 49-51. 
Sanitary appointments in urban and rural schools, p. 42. 
School collections, cabinets, etc., pp. 75 seq. 
School exhibition, p. 25. 

School house, use of for social gatherings, pp. 83-84. 
School kitchen, p. 117. 
School as a seminary, The, pp. 101, 103. 
School as a social centre. The, p. 100. 
School supervision, pp. 87-89. 
School term. Table I, and p. 27. 
Shop for hand work, The, p. 110. 
Social science, method of, p. 25. 
Spirit of true leadership in education, pp. 27-28. 
Standard of life, significance, of, pp. 8-17 ; 25. 
Supervision of American rural schools, pp. 87-89. 
Superintendent and his power, The, pp. 108-110. 

T. 
Teachers in rural schools, pp. 23, 24. 
Teacher in the rural school of the future, pp. Ill, 112. 
Telephone in rural life, pp. 16, 17. 
Tentative phase in education, p. 6. 
Text-books in use and how they are chosen, Table X. 
Text-books and the method of making them, p. 5. 
Time allotment for the different subjects. Table IV, and p. 45. 
Training in teachers, lack of, pp. 51-53. 
Trolleys, in rural life, pp. 8, 9. 

U. 
University extension, p. 116. 
Utilization of school plant, p. 100. 

V. 
Villages, the advantages of as a location for the consolidated school, 
pp. 102, 103. 

W. 
Weather map, use of in the school, pp. 54, 56. 
Wisconsin rural schools referred to, Table IV, and p. 45. 



LEJa'lQ 



The Rural School in the United 
States 



THESIS 



Presented April 4, 1906, to the Graduate School in the 
■ University of Pennsylvania, in Partial Fulfilment 
of the Requirements for the Degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy 



BY 
JOHN COULTER HOCKENBERRY 

CALIFORNIA, PA. 
1906 



1908 



